The Inferno Experience: Florence by Sara BruniMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sara Bruni clearly loves Italy and knows a lot about the country of her birth. Her latest book The Inferno Experience: Florence is a great way to learn more about one of Italy's most beautiful cities -- Florence.
Being Dante Alighieri's place of birth, there are many places in Florence that center very much around him and the art his famous works have inspired. Sara Bruni takes the reader all over Florence while almost very lovingly describing every feature, work of art, famous structure, and statue of note along the way. Clearly, the Inferno's influence is all over.
In her introduction, Sara tells her readers that she was pleasantly surprised when Dan Brown announced that he would be writing a book based on Dante's Inferno and had been researching in Florence. It just so happens that the city is one that Sara knows by heart though she was born in Sienna which is in Tuscanny. She had always loved Dante's work and often travelled to Florence to "touch the stones, which used to surround him, to hear his footsteps echoing through the streets of the city, to soak up every last detail of his ‘bel San Giovanni’."
What I really love about this book is the way the author is able to attach the history of an object or statue or building without making it appear like a boring history lesson. For example, the way she describes the way the Duomo or the Santa Maria del Fiore was being planned and how architects were asked to submit their designs for the dome is just wonderful. It is short yet very interesting. Especially the way she writes about Brunelleschi's Egg.
The pictures are also wonderful. I love the way she has chosen a few but very beautiful pictures for her book. For someone who has never been to Italy, let alone Florence (like me), reading the book is almost like being there and taking a guided tour of the city.
I have to admit that I am anticipating reading her other books The Inferno Experience: Tuscany and the soon to be released Inferno's Hidden Secrets & Eternal Mysteries.
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*Note: Although I was given a copy of the book "The Inferno Experience: Florence" for the purpose of reviewing it, my opinions of the book and my review of the book have in no way been influenced by the author or anybody else.
