Wender·Vista
Florence
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileItaly
on the Arno, in the cup of the Tuscan hills

Florence

— the city where the Renaissance learned to see.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“The Arno cuts the city in two and the Ponte Vecchio still stands where it has since the fourteenth century, goldsmiths' shops hanging over the water. Above the rooftops the dome holds — Brunelleschi's red-tile cap, the one no one knew how to build until he did. From Piazzale Michelangelo the whole city reads in terracotta and stone. The hills of Fiesole rise behind.

from the studio
Florence
— bring it home

Florence, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Florence

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Florence is the capital of Tuscany, set on the Arno River at the centre of a basin held by the Mugello hills to the north and the Chianti hills to the south. The historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1982, fits within the medieval walls in about five square kilometres. The city holds roughly 380,000 residents. Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance and the home seat of the Medici, whose patronage from the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries shaped most of what visitors come to see.

— the stone

The city is built in pietra serena, a soft grey sandstone quarried in the hills above Fiesole, trimmed with white marble from Carrara. The Duomo's dome, completed by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1436, spans 45 metres without internal scaffolding — the largest masonry dome ever raised. The Ponte Vecchio, the only Florentine bridge spared by the retreating German army in 1944, has carried goldsmiths' shops since 1593. The Vasari Corridor runs from the Palazzo Vecchio across the bridge to the Pitti Palace.

— the visit

Florence is best read on foot. The historic centre is a thirty-minute walk end to end, and the main galleries — the Uffizi, the Accademia where Michelangelo's David stands, the Bargello — sit within five minutes of each other. Timed entry is required at the Uffizi, the Accademia, and the dome climb of Santa Maria del Fiore. The crowds thin from November through February. Piazzale Michelangelo, twenty minutes uphill on foot, holds the view that puts the whole city in one frame.

— informed by Uffizi Galleries
— where
Italy · Florence, Tuscany
— elevation
50 m · 164 ft
— position
43.7696° N · 11.2558° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
8 km NE
Fiesole
hill town
2 km S
Piazzale Michelangelo
viewpoint
70 km S
Siena
medieval city
80 km W
Pisa
cathedral city
N
Florence
Fiesole
Piazzale Michelangelo
Siena
Pisa
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Florence — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

In Tuscany, central Italy, on the Arno River about midway between Rome and Milan. The historic centre fits inside the medieval walls in roughly five square kilometres and holds around 380,000 residents.

Filippo Brunelleschi, completed in 1436. The dome spans 45 metres and was raised without internal scaffolding, a technique Brunelleschi developed and never fully documented. It remains the largest masonry dome in the world.

A stone segmental-arch bridge across the Arno, built in 1345 and lined with goldsmiths' shops since 1593. It is the only Florentine bridge spared by the retreating German army in August 1944.

April, May, and September hold mild weather and lighter crowds than the summer peak. November through February is quietest and offers the best access to timed-entry galleries; cold but rarely freezing.

The Galleria degli Uffizi, the Medici family's former administrative offices on the Arno, converted to a public gallery in 1769. It holds Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera and the largest collection of Italian Renaissance painting in the world.

A nineteenth-century terrace on the south bank of the Arno, twenty minutes' walk uphill from the Ponte Vecchio. It holds the panoramic view of the historic centre, with the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio framed by the Tuscan hills.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well for the kind of traveller who returns to Florence rather than visits it — art historians, honeymooners marking an anniversary, anyone who has stood at Piazzale Michelangelo at dusk. A Small with a handwritten studio note travels easily.

It reads well in Mediterranean-modern interiors with travertine and warm woods, in Tuscan-rustic rooms, and in Jewel-tone Maximalist palettes where the terracotta rooftops and the Arno's slate-green can speak.

Yes. Mediterranean-modern has moved from blue-and-white restraint toward the warmer Italianate palette — terracotta, ochre, cypress green, dome red. The piece sits inside that direction without leaning to postcard cliché.

A single Large reads from across the room above a console. Above a standard sofa, a 4-tile Mural carries the wall; for a longer wall, a 9-tile Mural holds the full sweep.

Yes — order the Dura Satin or Matte finish for any room with moisture or steam. Both are scratch-resistant and read softer than the Glossy, which is meant for framed dry-wall display.

A dry or barely damp microfibre cloth. The colour lives in the ceramic surface beneath a thin glossy finish, so no chemical cleaners are needed and abrasive pads are not recommended.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is curated and finished in our Knoxville studio. We do not licence the work and the same image does not appear under any other brand.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.
— a collection

The Italian Dolomites,
painted slow.

The valleys between Cortina and Val Gardena, the tarns you walk an hour to see, the towers that turn the colour of a banked fire just before dark. Wander the collection by valley, by season, or follow the path Reid walked.

Tre Cime
Braies
Misurina
Sorapis
Cinque Torri
Sassolungo
Marmolada