Florence, Italy Postcard

Florence is known as the birthplace of Renaissance art and architecture. Two of the most recognizable structures in Florence are seen in this postcard from the 1930s. The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, which at the time of its completion in 1436 was the largest dome-shaped structure in the world, is prominently visible in the foreground. Its massive red-tiled dome was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. Giotto de Bondone's majestic gothic marble Campanile (Bell Tower) makes an appearance behind the dome as though it were photobombing the dome. In collaboration with the Italian State Railways System (FS), this stunning poster was created in the 1930s as part of a series of Italy posters for ENIT, the Italian Tourism Office. This poster was the source imagery used on a postcard distributed by Edizioni D’Art I.F.I company in Florence, Italy in 1928. The back of this postcard features a blank spread divided in half so that you can write and address the card to whomever you would like, or keep it as a memento of your time in Italy. Postcards like this are important to graphic design because they allow beautiful artwork to be resurfaced and continually circle around the globe 100 years later. Without mainstream products like these, beautiful works of art and posters would be lost in time and never seen by the public eye.