Work is underway at the Palazzo Vecchio to install a massive lightning shield.
Technicians from the firm Seat can be seen climbing the Arnolfo tower and the city hall’s battlements like mountaineers.
The operation is expected to take a month and a half and consists of attaching copper cables to the centuries-old walls, which will form a gigantic Faraday cage to ground and capture bolts of lightning.
Two of the four technicians are wearing webcams on their helmets for the duration of the work, enabling the world to gain little-seen glimpses of the Palazzo Vecchio and piazza della Signoria.
Once completed, copper armouring will cover the highest parts of the palazzo, beginning at Torre di Arnolfo and extending along the sides of all four walls, dropping down to a ring attached to a ground-level dispersion system.
