Letters from Florence: Observations on the Inner Art of Travel

Marie-Laure Valandro takes the reader on both an outer and an inner journey of discovery by way of the grand, living museum of Western history and tradition, Florence, Italy. Wandering the streets, cathedrals, and museums of Florence and the surrounding towns of Tuscany, the author gives fresh life to the Florentine painters, philosophers, poets, and architecture of bygone eras, while showing their relevance for our lives today. Letters from Florence is much more than a catalog of views through a traveler's eyes. It takes the reader on a personal journey to inner landscapes, both ancient and contemporary, through the author's own words and those of philosophers such as Goethe and Rudolf Steiner, the verse of Dante, and her evocative photographs. Whether one has or has not visited Florence, the insights gathered in Letters from Florence offer food for the mind and soul while entertaining the reader with the author's observations and encounters and her critique of modern Western culture and the spirit of our time.