Chapters 13 and 14 Summary

In Chapter Thirteen, the cupola is progressing smoothly in the spring of 1428, but this would be the first year of failures and setbacks for Filippo. The marble needed for the dome is expensive due to the difficulty in excavating it and safely shipping it many miles to Florence. Filippo thought he could find a cheaper and faster way to transport the marble, the Arno River. This shallow and tempestuous river easily upended Filippo's raft-like invention called Il Badalone, "the Monster." Filippo had been teased and ridiculed for this invention, but he thought it would be no different than when he was thought to be insane for his dome design. Unfortunately, he was wrong. It is not clear as to why the boat did not make it down the river to Florence. To add to this humiliation, Filippo had funded the entire...