VISITING FIRENZE, 'THE ATHENS OF THE MIDDLE AGES'

Republic of Florence

Today, The Grandma and her friends have started this trip around Tuscany discoverig more things about its capital. Florence has an incredible history and it has been always an important Europen city, especially since the moment it was independent and formed the Republic of Florence (1115–1532).

The Grandma loves history and she considers that when you visit a place, you must learn about its history and know as things as you can about its culture because we are the result of our ancestors and our history explains our present and forge our idiosincracy.

Before discovering more things about the History of Florence, The Grandma has studied a new chapter of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Grammar 47).

More information: Linking Words

Florence, in Italian Firenze, is the capital city of Tuscany. Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era.

It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions.

From 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Florentine dialect forms the base of Standard Italian and it became the language of culture throughout Italy due to the prestige of the masterpieces by Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini.

Dante Alighieri in Florence

The Historic Centre of Florence was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture and monuments. It contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and exerts an influence in art, culture and politics.

Florence is an important city in Italian fashion, being ranked in the top 15 fashion capitals of the world; furthermore, it is a major national economic centre, as well as a tourist and industrial hub.

Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a long period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune, it was the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance.

The language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language.

More information: DILIT

Almost all the writers and poets in Italian literature of the golden age are in some way connected with Florence, leading ultimately to the adoption of the Florentine dialect, above all the local dialects, as a literary language of choice.

Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money -in the form of the gold florin- financed the development of industry all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon and Hungary. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War. They similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome.

Charlemagne

The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole, Faesulae in Latin, which was destroyed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 80 BC in reprisal for supporting the populares faction in Rome.

The present city of Florence was established by Julius Caesar in 59 BC as a settlement for his veteran soldiers and was named originally Fluentia, owing to the fact that it was built between two rivers, which was later changed to Florentia, flowering.

In centuries to come, the city experienced turbulent periods of Ostrogothic rule, during which the city was often troubled by warfare between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines, which may have caused the population to fall to as few as 1,000 people.

Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century. Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to grow again and commerce prospered. In 854, Florence and Fiesole were united in one county.

Margrave Hugo chose Florence as his residency instead of Lucca at about 1000 AD. The Golden Age of Florentine art began around this time. In 1013, construction began on the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte. The exterior of the church was reworked in Romanesque style between 1059 and 1128. In 1100, Florence was a Commune, meaning a city state.

More information: The Culture Trip

Of a population estimated at 94,000 before the Black Death of 1348, about 25,000 are said to have been supported by the city's wool industry: in 1345 Florence was the scene of an attempted strike by wool combers or ciompi, who in 1378 rose up in a brief revolt against oligarchic rule in the Revolt of the Ciompi. After their suppression, Florence came under the sway (1382–1434) of the Albizzi family, who became bitter rivals of the Medici.

In the 15th century, Florence was among the largest cities in Europe, considered rich and economically successful. Life was not idyllic for all residents though, among whom there were great disparities in wealth.

Cosimo I de'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, new people. The fact that the Medici were bankers to the pope also contributed to their ascendancy. Cosimo was succeeded by his son Piero, who was, soon after, 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. Lorenzo was an accomplished poet and musician and brought composers and singers to Florence, including Alexander Agricola, Johannes Ghiselin, and Heinrich Isaac. By contemporary Florentines and since, he was known as Lorenzo the Magnificent,  Lorenzo il Magnifico.

Following Lorenzo de' Medici's death in 1492, he was succeeded by his son Piero II. When the French king Charles VIII invaded northern Italy, Piero II chose to resist his army. But when he realised the size of the French army at the gates of Pisa, he had to accept the humiliating conditions of the French king. These made the Florentines rebel and they expelled Piero II. With his exile in 1494, the first period of Medici rule ended with the restoration of a republican government.

More information: World History Volume

Florentines drove out the Medici for a second time and re-established a republic on 16 May 1527. Restored twice with the support of both Emperor Charles V and Pope Clement VII (Giulio de Medici), the Medici in 1532 became hereditary dukes of Florence, and in 1569 Grand Dukes of Tuscany, ruling for two centuries.

In all Tuscany, only the Republic of Lucca, later a Duchy, and the Principality of Piombino were independent from Florence.

WWII, Santa Trinita Bridge, Arno River, Florence

The extinction of the Medici dynasty and the accession in 1737 of Francis Stephen, duke of Lorraine and husband of Maria Theresa of Austria, led to Tuscany's temporary inclusion in the territories of the Austrian crown.

From 1801 to 1807 Florence was the capital of the Napoleonic client state Kingdom of Etruria. Bourbon-Parma were deposed in December 1807 when Tuscany was annexed by France.

Florence was the prefecture of the French département of Arno from 1808 to the fall of Napoleon in 1814. The Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty was restored on the throne of Tuscany at the Congress of Vienna but finally deposed in 1859. Tuscany became a region of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

During World War II the city experienced a year-long German occupation (1943–1944). Hitler declared it an open city on July 3 1944 as troops of the British 8th Army closed in.

Florence was liberated by New Zealand, South African and British troops on 4 August 1944. The Allied soldiers who died driving the Germans from Tuscany are buried in cemeteries outside the city.

More information: BBC

Florence is charming, cozy, beautiful, inspiring 

-it has so many great places to go to 

and so many unique things to see that 

you won't find anywhere else!

Edgardo Osorio