FLORENCE, ITALY – The modern visitor to the city of Florence might wonder what on earth the new book by Chris Dobson is about. Surely it is Bologna or San Gimignano that are famous for their towers, not Florence? Yet in the Middle Ages – long before the Medici came to power – the skyline of Florence was entirely different to the city we see today, dominated by soaring structures built by private families engaged in deadly conflict with each other.
The eBook «The Lost Tower of Florence», £ 3.60 on Chris Dobson Online Bookstore, (an Amazon store is also available) describes how those now-vanished towers came to be built, and why they have almost entirely disappeared, although it does show how you can still get an impression of what these incredible buildings were like if you know where to look. The second edition of the Lost Towers is a much expanded version, based on new research, and including new photography.
Chris Dobson comes from a background in the history of applied arts: specifically arms and armour. In 1985 he established a studio to reconstruct and restore armour and edged weapons, and soon he became known as one of the foremost craftsmen in his field, with leading public and private collections worldwide among his clients.
Chris is unique in his various fields of study, and in fact in most of the museum world: not only does he have the ‘hands-on’ experience of an artist and Master Craftsman, he also carries out independent academic research and curatorial work for public and private collections. In 1995 he was appointed as Master Armourer to the Royal Armouries, the first Master appointed since the 17th Century.
Chris’s speciality has always been the Middle Ages and Renaissance in Italy, and from the very beginning his research has incorporated the work of Italian artists and sculptors. In time it has included ever more graphic art and sculpture, and almost inevitably, it now forms the greater part of his work. Today he combines his knowledge of Italian arms, armour and art as an independent art historian and author. Chris Dobson also organises exclusive art and history tours of Florence and Tuscany.