What a coincidence : about a month ago a gemmologist from Pistoia , Lucia Gori , told me about this place in Firenze . Two days ago a friend of mine Carmen , native from Canarie island but living in Florence since long time, brought me here and I immediately recognized the name engraved in the marble outside the door : Lastrucci !The same Lucia told me about .
Just behind the beautiful Santa Croce Basilica , in the heart of Florence, if you enter in here , you can think you are in another world : in the Renaissance period, immersed in an amazing , fascinated location.
Smiling faces welcomes me and my friend and kindly showing us the techniques used : every step is handmade with calm and stressless , skilled hands – young hands ! – cutting stones as in the past with sand, water and lots of time and patience. 
Stones cut by hands and put together as a painting , following a model with high precision , attention and of course , a great passion for this work .
It has been really amazing for me such a big jump in another century , just passing through a door : like to be in a film , you find yourself in another era , nobody told you that in an instant you are no more in the noisy Florence full of cars and busses , crowded streets of tourists and traffic lights : no, you are in the peaceful Florence of XVI century with horses and carriages, with long dressed ladies walking , not driving !
Then I’ve been invited to visit another room and…
They are NOT paintings, they are all mosaics : can you believe it?
I could see so many different materials , stones and colors 
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Such a great surprise, such an instructive lesson not just of arts itself but even of life : living in another dimension, having the patience to cut a stone with just the help of a sort of arch with a thin wire , while outside everything and everybody is running so fast with WI FI !
I promised I will come back with more time to spend there but until then a big thank for bringing be back to another magnificent world that is part of our past.
P.S.Of course you can even buy something ,if you like , and bring back with you a masterpiece like this here below…white Carrara marble maybe ? and other precious stones
passion4food4fashion 