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| Florence (Italian: Firenze)
is the capital city of the region of Tuscany, and also capital
of the province of Florence. From 1865 to 1870 the city was also
the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Florence lies on the Arno River
and has a population of around 400,000 people, plus a suburban population
in excess of 200,000 persons. A center of medieval European trade and finance, the city is often considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and was long ruled by the Medici family. Florence is also famous for its fine art and architecture. It is said that, of the 1,000 most important European artists of the second millennium, 350 lived or worked in Florence. History Florence's recorded history began with the establishment in 59 BC of a settlement for Roman former soldiers, with the name Florentia. Julius Caesar had allocated the fertile soil of the valley of the Arno to his veterans. They built a castrum in a chessboard pattern of an army camp (castrum) , with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. This pattern can still be found in the city center. Florentia was situated at the Via Cassia, the main route between Rome and the North. Through this advantageous position, the settlement could rapidly expand into an important commercial center. Emperor Diocletianus made Florentia capital of the province of Tuscia in the 3rd century AC. St Minias was Florence’s first martyr. He was beheaded at about 250 AC, during the anti-Christian persecutions of the Emperor Decius. The Basilica di San Miniato al Monte now stands near the spot. The seat of a bishopric from around the beginning of the 4th century AC, the city experienced subsequent turbulent periods of Byzantine, Ostrogothic rule, during which the city was often besieged and ravaged. The population may have fallen to as few as 1,000 persons. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century. Conquered by Charlemagne in 774, Florence became part of the duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. Population began to grow again and commerce prospered. In 854 Florence and Fiesole were united in one country. Margrave Hugo chose Florence as his residency instead of Lucca at about 1000 AC. This initiated the Golden Age of Florentine art. In 1013 the construction was begun of the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte. The exterior of the baptistry was reworked in Romanesque style between 1059 and 1128. Reviving from the 10th century and governed from 1115 by an autonomous commune, the city was plunged into internal strife by the 13th-century struggle between the Ghibellines, supporters of the German emperor, and the pro-Papal Guelphs, who after their victory split in turn into feuding "White" and "Black" factions led respectively by Vieri de Cerchi and Corso Donati. These struggles eventually led to the exile of the White Guelphs, one of whom was Dante Alighieri. This factional strife was later recorded by Dino Compagni, a White Guelph, in his Chronicles of Florence. Political conflict did not, however, prevent the city's rise to become one of the most powerful and prosperous in Europe, assisted by her own strong gold currency, the florin (introduced in 1252), the eclipse of her formerly powerful rival Pisa (defeated by Genoa in 1284 and subjugated by Florence in 1406), and the exercise of power by the mercantile elite following an anti-aristocratic movement, led by Giano della Bella, that resulted in a set of laws called the Ordinances of Justice (1293). Of a population estimated at 80,000 before the Black Death of 1348, about 25,000 are said to have been supported by the city's woollen industry: in 1345 Florence was the scene of an attempted strike by wool combers (ciompi), who in 1378 rose up in a brief revolt against oligarchic rule in the Revolt of the Ciompi. After their suppression, the city came under the sway (1382-1434) of the Albizzi family, bitter rivals of the Medici. Cosimo de' Medici was the first Medici family member to essentially control the city from behind the scenes. Although the city was technically a democracy of sorts, his power came from a vast patronage network along with his alliance to the new immigrants, the gente nuova. The fact that the Medici were bankers to the pope also contributed to their rise. Cosimo was succeeded by his son Piero, who was shortly thereafter succeeded by Cosimo's grandson, Lorenzo in 1469. Lorenzo was a great patron of the arts, commissioning works by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli. After Lorenzo's death in 1492 and his son Piero's exile in 1494, the first period of Medici rule ended with the restoration of a republican government, influenced until his execution (1498) by the teachings of the radical Dominican prior Girolamo Savonarola, whose monomaniacal persecution of the widespread Florentine sodomy and of other worldly pleasures foreshadowed many of the wider religious controversies of the following centuries.A second individual of unusual insight was Niccolò Machiavelli, whose prescriptions for Florence's regeneration under strong leadership have often been seen as a legitimisation of political expediency and even malpractice. Commissioned by the Medici, Machiavelli also wrote the Florentine Histories, the history of the city. Florentines drove out the Medici for a second time and re-established a republic on May 16, 1527. Restored twice with the support of both Emperor and Pope, the Medici in 1537 became hereditary dukes of Florence, and in 1569 Grand Dukes of Tuscany, ruling for two centuries. Only Republic of Lucca (later a Duchy) was independent from Florence in all Tuscany. The extinction of the Medici line and the accession in 1737 of Francis Stephen, duke of Lorraine and husband of Maria Theresa of Austria, led to Tuscany's inclusion in the territories of the Austrian crown. Austrian rule was to end in defeat at the hands of France and the kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in 1859, and Tuscany became a province of the united kingdom of Italy in 1861. Florence replaced Turin as Italy's capital in 1865, hosting the country's first parliament, but was superseded by Rome six years later following its addition to the kingdom. After doubling during the 19th century, Florence's population tripled in the 20th with the growth of tourism, trade, financial services and industry. During World War II the city experienced a year-long German occupation (1943-1944). The Allied soldiers who died driving the Germans from Tuscany are buried in cemeteries outside the city (Americans about 9 kilometers (6 miles) south of the city, British and Commonwealth soldiers a few kilometers east of the center on the north bank of the Arno). In November 1966 the Arno flooded parts of the centre, damaging many art treasures. There was no warning from the authorities who knew the flood was coming, except a phone call to the jewellers on the Ponte Vecchio. Places of interest Fountain of Neptune:  Is situated on the Piazza della Signoria (Signoria square), in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. This work, by Bartolomeo Ammannati (1563-1565) and some assistants, such as Giambologna, was commissioned on the occasion of the wedding of Francesco I de' Medici with grand duchess Johanna of Austria in 1565. The assignment had first been given to Baccio Bandinelli, who designed the model but he died before he could start working on the block of Apuan marble. The Neptune figure, whose face resembles that of Cosimo I de' Medici, was meant to be an allusion to the dominion of the Florentines over the sea. The figure stands on a high pedestal in the middle of an octogonal fountain. The pedestal in the middle is decorated with the mythical chained figures of Scylla and Charybdis. The statue of Neptune is a copy made in the nineteenth century, while the original is in the National Museum.However, when the work was finished, it wasn't appreciated in particular by the Florentines who use to call it 'Il Biancone' (the white giant). Even Michelangelo scoffed at the sculptor : "Ammanato, you've ruined a lovely block of marble!". Work continued on this fountain during the next ten years. Ammanati, with the assistance of the best Florentine sculptors and casters, added around the perimeter of the basin, in a mannerist style, suave, reclining, bronze river gods, laughing satyrs and marble sea horses emerging from the water. The monumental marble and the dynamic bronzes give nevertheless a coherent impression. The fountain served as an example for future fountain-makers. The fountain has suffered a great deal of damage during the centuries. It was used as a washbasin for laundry at the end of the 16th century. It was vandalized on January 25, 1580. A satyr was stolen during the carnival in 1830. It has been damaged again by the Bourbon bombardments of 1848. Consequently, it has been the object of several restorations and substitutions. On August 4, 2005, the statue was the target of three vandals who climbed it, damaging one of the hands and the trident of Neptune. The act was recorded by security cameras. Ponte Vecchio:  is a Renaissance church in Milan built by Guiniforte Solari between 1466 and 1490 on a commission by Dominican monks. Later modifications include work by Donato Bramante in 1492-1497. The church is famous for the mural of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, although the painting is actually situated in the adjacent Dominican convent; its restoration in the 90s was very controversial since much of the painting was removed in favor of only the stratum authentically painted by Leonardo, which is much more fragmentary. Duomo of Florence:  is a generic Italian term for a cathedral church. The formal word for a church that is presently a cathedral is cattedrale; a Duomo may be either a present or a former cathedral (the latter always in a town that no longer has a bishop nor therefore a cathedral, as for example Trevi). Such churches are usually referred to simply as "Il Duomo" or "The Duomo", without regard to the full proper name of the church. The term "Duomo" is apparently derived from the conflation of the two Latin words Dominus (Lord) and Domus (house) through medieval Italian: a cathedral is "the house of God" ( domus Dei, or domus Ecclesiae) Italian cathedrals are often highly decorated and contain notable artworks; in many cases the buildings themselves are true artworks. Perhaps the best known Duomo is Milan's Duomo di Milano, but exists anothers cathedrals as Alba, Ancona, Mantua, and Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore. Other notable examples are in Cremona, L'Aquila, Modena, Monreale, Naples, Orvieto, Padova, Pisa (the Leaning Tower is its campanile, bell-tower), Prato, San Gimignano, Siena, Spoleto, and Turin. |
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| At TRAVEL WORLD EUROPE, you can find qualified information about the cities of Europe, such as population, language, history, places of interest and many more. In addition, we provide information about air and train tickets, accomodations, car rental and phone rental. If you plan a trip to any place, or just want to get more information about Europe, TRAVEL WORLD EUROPE is your first destiny! |
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