Full Description
How and why has the city of Florence, one of the great treasure houses of western civilization, been reduced to little more than a Renaissance Disneyland for tourists? Florence, once a center of national intellectual creativity, has become a city with two separate lives. Its historic center caters to and profits from tourists, while the periphery houses a population that endures overcrowding, decaying infrastructure, and an exorbitant cost of living. In Politics in a Museum, James Miller investigates Florence's losing struggle with modern times.
He traces the city's story from its bloody liberation in 1944 through a reconstruction led by Communist and Catholic saints, the flood of 1966, the booms and busts of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. In the process, Miller provides an analysis of the defects of Italy's national political system, as well as a meticulous reconstruction of the men and events that have placed Florence alongside Venice in the unenviable status of museum city.
Contents
Preface Liberation Old Wine in New Bottles: From CTLN to Party Control, 1944-1947 Red Flag Over Palazzo Vecchio, 1947-1951 Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground: La Pira, 1951-1954 Building a City on the Hill, 1954-1957 Intermezzo, 1957-1960 The Center Left at Florence, 1960-1965 The Flood Muddling Through: The Bausi Years: 1968-1974 The Historic Compromise at Florence, 1975-1981 Who's in Charge? The Florentine Pentapartito City of Culture The Party's Over Conclusion: Penelope's Sindle Bibliography Index
