VIEWPOINT

Enchanting Florence just wouldn’t be the same without its distinctive terra cotta skyline– and the best tiles come from a tiny village just a few miles south of the city. Italia!investigates...

© Mooch Im ages/Alam y

The terra cotta rooftops of Florence are famous the world over, so many fabulous photographs of the burnt red tiles adorning the crown of the cityscape have been taken. Terra cotta, the word deriving from the Greek term for ‘baked earth’, has been made in Tuscany for more than 500 years. The very best in the region come from the village of Impruneta, just a few miles south of Florence, where the clay is shaped and

then fired in a kiln for between five and seven days at more than 1,000ºC. This extreme baking ensures that they’re durable, robust and impervious to frost (they’ll withstand temperatures as low as -35ºC). When Filippo Brunelleschi was building the Santa Maria del Fiore (you may know it better as the Duomo) in 1503 he was insistent that none other than Impruneta tiles were used for its roof. Theyremain there to this day... I !

14 ITALIA! June 2006
June 2006 ITALIA! 15