Michelangelo's San Lorenzo Basilica exterior could be revived
Nearly 500 years after Florence ditched Michelangelo’s grand design for the exterior of San Lorenzo Basilica, the city’s mayor wants to finally realise the artist’s vision.
It is one of the oddest looking churches in Europe, its rough, unfinished facade of bricks resembling giant slabs of crumbling biscuits.
Matteo Renzi has called for a referendum to be held in which Florentines can vote on whether to dust off plans for the church’s facade which last saw the light of day in 1515, when they were presented by Michelangelo to Pope Leo X, one of the Medici popes.
The project was shelved by the pontiff because of concerns over cost - Michelangelo wanted to use expensive Carrara marble rather than cheaper marble from the hills near Florence.
Realising Michelangelo’s design for the basilica’s facade down to the last detail would not be difficult — thanks to rigorous Florentine document keeping, numerous sketches and at least two wooden models of what it would have looked like still exist....