英语听力：自然百科 佛罗伦萨艺术（在线收听） |
The workshops are hidden throughout the narrow streets of Oltrarno. Artisans ply trades learned not in schools but through apprenticeships and years of experience. Silversmith Donato Zaccaro has been creating silver furnishings and tableware for over three decades. One of his prized objects is a sterling silver vase. It's made from three discs. The discs are molded into three pieces like a puzzle. The precision is very important here because they have to be absolutely identical. So if one piece becomes slightly different than the other, then it has to be scrapped.
Then Zaccaro's assistant solders the pieces together.
The joint is invisible.
Just a few blocks away, artisans prepare a marble-inlaid tabletop. Each piece has been hand cut, and fit within a larger piece. A coating has been applied to even out the many joints, and then it's buffed to an even finish.
Marble inlay was perfected by Florentines around the end of the 16th century. Inlay artisans can be found around the world today, but it's Florentine work that's found in palaces across Europe, gifts over the centuries from grand dukes of the Medici family.
In the same building, this man paints in what's known as scagliola imitation marble. The technique was perfected in Italy in the 17th century. It's most often painted on plaster. Originally intended as a cheap substitute for marble, it's now considered an art form in itself. And so it has gone all the way back to the Renaissance. Sunup to sundown, everyday, there is art in the alleyways of Oltrarno.
Oltrarno：part of the historic center of Florence, Italy
Medici family: a rich and powerful Italian family of bankers who ruled Florence from the 15th to the 18th centuries, and spent much of their money on art and on providing financial support to artists |
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/zrbaike/2009/255751.html |