A sculpture created by a thousand hands

The Tuscan city of Arezzo is a sculpture created by a thousand hands and a thousand minds.

With its jostling roofs, it stands like a patchwork quilt in clay that has been stitched together over a thousand years. Every roof is a compromise as it is forced to fit in with its neighbour and each one goes in a different direction, You can see the rain water casting on to the terracotta and each drop will have a different journey as it follows the line.

I love the patterns of its organic growth, with the buildings and their roofs being squashed and slid into impossible spaces. You can almost hear the streets. You can imagine standing on a roof and watching multitudes of carpenters, builders and roofers plying their trades over the centuries.