Three little known facts about Tuscany
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La Cupola – the first self supporting dome
The dome that dominates the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and at the time of its construction it was the largest dome in the world. It still holds this record today, in fact it is the largest masonry dome ever built, with a diameter of 45.5 meters.
Photo by Drew Dempsey on Unsplash
Brunelleschi’s ingenious innovation was to build a self supporting dome without the use of supporting frameworks, because no wooden structure could have supported that mass.
Il Ponte Sospeso di San Marcello Pistoiese – suspension bridge
Photo by Matteo Vistocco on Unsplash
In the heart of Pistoia mountains, a very long pedestrian walkway connects to the two green slopes divided by the Lima torrent. The Ferriere suspension bridge extends 36 meters above the river, connecting with its 227 meters of length Mammiano Basso and Popiglio, two typical small mountain villages in the municipality of San Marcello Piteglio. It holds the record for the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in Italy. Until 2006 it even held the world record, beaten by the Japanese suspension bridge Kokonoe Yume with its length of 390 meters.
La Porchetta piu lunga del mondo – the longest Porchetta in the world
When we talk about Tuscany, we can’t miss the gastronomic records! One of these is in fact the longest Porchetta.
Monte San Savino is a village also famous for its Porchetta tradition and on June 13, 2010 it earned the record for the longest Porchetta in the world, measuring 44.93 meters of goodness!
To make it, many kilos of pork were used, 950 meters of string, 130 kg of salt, pepper and other spices, 250 bundles of heather brooms and 3 tons of wood to cook it.
