Andy Haldane, co-author of the government’s big levelling-up report, wants to pair a swathe of the UK’s major material needs with the thrust of achievements in Renaissance Florence (Report, 5 February). It would be difficult to entertain a more idiotic vision.
Florence had no coordination between public expenditure and urban improvement. Taxation staggered from one need to the next. Churches and rich patrons were the prime movers behind all major architectural commissions. Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci deserted Florence for more promising venues. The Medici began to put their hands into the public till even under the 15th-century republic. Any conception of the public good was rudimentary. The political upper class swiftly made its peace with the overmighty Medici in the 16th century. Enough said.
Lauro Martines
London
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