Florence Information Page
Florence
Italy, founded by the Romans in the first century B.C., "Florentia" reached
its highest point of civility between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries,
as a free State, balancing the authority of the Emperors with that of the Popes,
overcoming the problems of internal fighting between Guelphs and Ghibellines.
In the fifteenth century Florence was ruled by the Signoria of the Medici.
They subsequently became the Granduchy of Tuscany. This was the city's most splendid period, for art, culture, politics and economics. The Granduchy of the Medici was followed by that of the Lorena in the eighteenth century, until in 1860 Tuscany joined the Kingdom of Italy, with Florence as the capital from 1865 to 1871.
Florence Italy contains an exceptional artistic patrimony, glorious testimony to its secular civilization. Cimabue and Giotto , the fathers of Italian painting, lived here, along with Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano , reformists of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio , founders of the Renaissance; Ghiberti and the Della Robbia ; Filippo Lippi and l'Angelico; Botticelli and Paolo Uccello; the universal geniuses Leonardo and Michelangelo . Their works, along with those of many generations of artists up to the masters of the present century, are gathered in the city's many museums.
In
Florence, thanks to Dante, the Italian language was born; with
Petrarch
and
Boccaccio
literary studies were affirmed; with Humanism the
philosophy and values of classical civilization were revived; with
Machiavell
i modern political science was born; with
Guicciardini
,
historical prose; and with Galileo, modern experimental science.
Up to the time of Charlemagne, Florence was a university town. Today
it includes many specialized institutes and is an international cultural
center. Academies, art schools, scientific institutes and cultural centers
all contribute to the city's intense activity.