The Florence Duomo

Italian Egg on our Afinia Faces...

Some things I know. For everything else, there's the Internet.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, not everything on the Internet is true. So our first round of research and ad copy on the Florence Duomo model included some, er, minor fallacies.

Fortunately, and not surprisingly, one of our customers gently pointed out the, um, 6 significant errors.

This is now one of my favorite customers because this is the kind of thing I would do (if the topic were something I knew about, which clearly it is not).

His name is Jon. Jon's e-mail subject was 'Helpful suggestion'. It then proceeds to point out factual errors, without suggesting anything. (okay, so 'fix the errors' is more or less implicit...)

• The Florence Duomo was begun in 1296, which is the 13th century. (We had 12th. This is a more or less common error. So, kids, remember: This year, 2009, is part of the 21st century. One variation on this common error can come in handy if you want to look older. When you are 15, you can tell people you are 'in your 16th year'. Remember, Afinia is not recommending anything illegal, and we are not liable for consequences derived from this useful piece of English idiomatic custom. Technically, you still need a drivers license.)



• The Florence Duomo was designed and built by Brunelleschi, not Michelangelo. (It's all Italian to me!)



• Michelangelo lived in the 15th and 16th century, not the 12th century. (Come on now, we were only off by 3 [hundred years]!)



• The spelling of his name is not "Michaelangelo". (Yes, but you have to admit our way is cooler. When I get to the other side, I'll have a chat with my friend Micky A about changing his name spelling)



• The model, while attractive does not resemble the dome of the Florence Duomo. (Okay, I'm stuck here. To my untrained eye they look similar. But I have the feeling this guy knows what he's talking about. My intuition says he's not working off a photo from a history book... He's probably seen it in person.)



• Neither does it resemble the celbrated dome at St Peters, which Micheangelo did design, other than the cute ogee brackets, which have been moved from the lantern to the barrel portion of the structure. (Okay, I'm definitely out of my league here.)

Kudos to Jon for cleaning our clocks (or domes) architecturally.