The citizens of Florence are justly proud of their city's handsome sky line with its craggy palaces, soaring domes and towers. In 1944, retreating Germans blew up five of Florence's famous bridges and blasted the approaches to the most famous, the Ponte Vecchio. Last week Florentines were up in arms against a new threat to their city's ancient beauty: modern architecture.
Contractors and speculators were filling the blocks cleared by German mines with reinforced concrete buildings which, to sensitive Florentines, resembled "overgrown bird cages" and "human beehives." Thousands of townspeople, called up by a recently organized League of Action for the Esthetic...
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