the rusticated plinth of Palazzo Pitti feels less like a wall and more like the face of a cliff ready for all forms of life to move in

…the roughly hewn stonework often used on the lower floors of palazzi as an expression of fortification and solidity – which I recall studying in college classes on Florentine Renaissance architecture – is something I have a new love for today (as I find myself back in Firenze, the city I lived just outside of from 1993-94, and back north again so soon after leaving Bologna 2 days ago, on a quick visit for a lecture at Syracuse University tonight) while walking by Palazzo Pitti (one of the first places I visited in Italy, while on a Eurail pass tour at the age of 20) and getting really excited about the ridiculously massive stone work along the street which gives the impression that the gigantic structure is emerging directly out of the stone beneath your feet while gradually refining as it goes higher and higher – and what I am really loving is the possibility for all of the animals, moss and other plants to take up residence in such a welcoming porous surface. (wikipedia on rustication)