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« tuscany # 29 ~ say cheese | Main | tuscany # 24 ~ they are, quite literally, everywhere »
Monday
Sep282009

(firenze) tuscany # 25-28 ~ signs

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Self service ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick to embiggen
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Self service ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick
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Buca Mario ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick
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Pizzeria ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick
I'm basically clueless as to why I became so enamored by/of Italian signs. Maybe they subconsciously spoke to the designer in me - the signs were simple and to the point. One might even use the phrase "classically elegant" to describe them.

It goes without saying, or at least it should, that Italians rank amongst the world's best designers of all kinds of things - clothes, cars, typography, graphics, architecture, and wide variety of "things". I would even go as far as to opine that, to my eye and sensibilities, most of Italy (at least the parts I saw) seems to be well designed in the sense that there is a rather constant look and feel to the entire place.

That characteristic struck me immediately. It took the wife a few days before she stated that she was definitely beginning to understand what I meant by that observation. I think it had something to do with the fact that, for the most part, Italians have managed to avoid the relentless, slapdash, visually oppressive / ugly sprawl that we seem to passively accept, if not embrace, in the name of "progress" here in the US of A.

Reader Comments (2)

Hi, I regret to not have had the time to get near Arezzo and meet you but your week was placed exactly at the beginning of the school year.

As you observed in beginning of this series Italy has a huge variety of different looking places. Just a few miles form Florence, Prato and Sesto Fiorentino or Lastra Signa are far more Industrial even if they retained a somewhat vernacular look.

Tuscany has a distinct look rather different than any other Italian place. I wont use it as a generalization. Regretfully many tourists, for a lot of good reasons, seem to have a very partial look.

However I have to make my compliments to have avoided many stereotypes.

September 28, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMauro Thon Giudici

Mark I am really enjoying this series, you have so many great stories and images to share but my favorites are #14,#16,and #18.

September 28, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterDon

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