Brunelleschi's basilica of Santo Spirito in Florence was not only a
product of creative genius, but also of communal bureaucracy,
socio-economic traditions, human and financial resources, factionalism,
and rivalry. This complex network of forces behind the monument serves
as testimony to the determination and capacity of Renaissance
Florentines to actualize the creative ideas of the extraordinary artists
and architects who were transforming the profile of the city. Moreover,
it reveals that the labor, spirit, and energy of those human beings who
were building Renaissance Florence were just as important to its
manufacture as the brick, stone and wood used to build it. By
investigating those aspects that defined the building tradition of the
Renaissance - the architect, the Opera (building committee), the
quartiere (neighborhood), the cantiere (worksite and workforce) - we
discover that behind a great monument lies a monumental account of
collective human achievement.