HISTORY OF FLORENCE

The great city of Florence was founded by the Julius Caesar in 59 BC. It was a colonia,
a settlement for retired soldiers and it was called Florentia. The new town flourished and
grew under Roman rule. However in the 4th century the Roman Empire split into two, East
and West. In the 5th century Germanic peoples overthrew the Western Roman Empire. The
Eastern Roman Empire survived as the Byzantine Empire. In the 6th century the Byzantine
Emperor attempted to reconquer Italy and there was a struggle between the Byzantines and
a Germanic people called the Goths. During the fighting Florence changed hands several
times. However late in the 6th century a people called the Lombards captured Florence and
there was a long period of peace. However, Florence was cut off from the major routes. For
their north-south communications, the Lombards abandoned the central Bologna-PistoiaFlorence route as being too exposed to the incursions of the Byzantines. Then in 774
Charlemagne captured Florence.
By the 11th century Florence was once again a flourishing town and in 1115 the
Count of Tuscany made itself governing commune. Florence became a large and rich city
and in 1252 a gold coin called the florin was minted. However in 1348 Florence was
devastated by the Black Death, The Black Death was an epidemic of bubonic plague, a
disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis that circulates among wild rodents where
they live in great numbers and density. Yet the city soon recovered and the 15th century it
became a center of the arts. In the 15th century, it came under the rule of the Medici family,
who later became the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. This in fact was the period when the city was
at the height of its glory in art and culture, in politics and economic power.
In 1527 Florence was captured by an army from the Pope and the Holy Roman
Emperor. However Florence continued to flourish although in 1737 the rule of the Medicis
came to an end. Afterwards Tuscany, including Florence came under Austrian rule.
In 1861 Tuscany became part of the newly united kingdom of Italy. In 1865 it became
the capital but in 1871 it was replaced by Rome. During the late 19th century and the early
20th century the population of Florence rose rapidly and the city prospered. However during
the Second World War Florence was occupied by Germans in the period 143-1944. When
they retreated the Germans destroyed the bridges in Florence except for the Ponte Vecchio.
Yet after the war Florence soon recovered. However in 4 November 1966 Florence suffered a
severe flood. The River Arno burst its banks and at least 35 people were killed. Once again
Florence recovered. In 1982 UNESCO declared Florence a World Heritage Site. Today
Florence is flourishing. Many tourists are drawn to the city by its art and architecture. Today
the population of Florence is 374,000.
ITALIAN CULTURE
The Italian Pace
In Italy, patience is truly a virtue. Take a restaurant, for instance. Italian servers may
seem to be ignoring you, but in reality, they just like to give customers time and space to
talk and socialize. The slower pace and long waits also apply to many public offices and
events. Offices do not always open on time and events do not start promptly. Italians do not
like to stress over things, but rather tend to relax and enjoy life to the fullest with a slower
pace.
Moderation
Italians drink alcohol with moderation in order to avoid getting drunk. The quickest
way to lose the respect of your Italian friends and neighbors is to get drunk in public.
Drinking on the streets is also considered very disrespectful.
Society
Family has a very important role in Italy and life revolves around the family. The

majority of young adults move out of the family homes very late (in their 30's), partly
because of unbearably high living expenses, and partly due to strong sentimental
attachments to the family. Dating rituals are complex, it will often take months, even years,
before a dating couple actually goes out alone. The beginning of a relationship is always
filled with group outings and only after quite some time does a couple separate itself from
the group. Since the majority of Italian young adults live with their parents, the occasions to
invite boyfriends or girlfriends to their house are also rare. Living together before marriage is
slowly gaining popularity, but many people still condemn "illegal couples."
ART OF FLORENCE
Florence is called the capital of arts; according to statistics produced by UNESCO,
60% of the world's most important works of art are located in Italy and approximately half of
these are in Florence. Italian art frequently have the mixture of intellectual and religious
currents of its day while retaining its own remarkable past as a continual source of
inspiration. The monumental and spectacular works of Italian art entices the people to go
visit Florence, Italy.

Two of the most famous museums found in Florence are the Galleria Degli Uffizi and the
Galleria dellAccademia
1. GALLERIA DEGLI UFFIZI
Regarded today as one of the worlds greatest art museums, the Uffizi Gallery
is located off the Piazza della Signoria. This former palace was first built in 1560 to
house the offices of the city magistrates. After the ruling dynasty of the Medici family
relinquished its power, the palace evolved into an art gallery to showcase its stunning
collection of Renaissance art treasures. Opened to the public since 1765, the
museum offers thousands of art works by masters like Michelangelo, Botticelli,
Leonardo da Vinci and Titian.
Must Sees
o Botticelli's Primavera and Birth of Venus
o Filippo Lippi's Madonna and Child with Two Angels
o Titian's Venus of Urbino
2. GALLERIA DELLACCADEMIA
One of the most visited museums in Florence and the world. The most famous
and interesting works of art that make the Accademia famous are without a doubt
those created by the genius Michelangelo
Must Sees
o Michelangelo's David and Prisoners
o Giambologna's Rape of the Sabines
o Botticelli's Madonna and Child and Madonna of the Sea

The fourth largest church in the entire world based on nave size is in Florence.
SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE (DUOMO)
The cathedral took approximately one hundred and forty years to build. Construction
initially started on September 8, 1296, and the cathedral was not consecrated until March
25, 1436. The exterior is covered in a decorative mix of pink, white and green marble. The
interior, by contrast, is pretty stark and plain but quite enjoyable on warm summer days
since the temperature inside tends to be cooler. The mosaic pavements are certainly its
main attraction within.
These are some examples of the art works seen in Florence:
1. The Florentine Pieta, Michelangelo
2. Trinity, Masaccio

3. The Slaves, Michelangelo

4. The Annunciation, Fra Angelico
5. Gates of Paradise, Lorenzo Ghiberti
6. Deposition from the Cross, Pontormo
7. Mosaics in the Baptistery, Various
8. Madonna della Seggiola, Raphael
9. Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels, Giotto
10. Medici Palace, Michelozzo di Bartolomeo
11. The David, Michelangelo
12. Saint George, Donatello
13. Procession of the Magi, Benozzo Gozzoli
14. The Life of Saint Francis, Domenico Ghirlandaio
15. Primavera, Sandro Botticelli
16. Celestial and Terrestrial Spheres, Antonio Santucci
17. Perseus, Benvenuto Cellini
18. Laocon Group
19. School of Athens by Raphael
20. Birth of Venus by Botticelli
21. Transfiguration by Raphael
FLORENTINE DIALECT
Florentine or fiorentino is a Tuscan dialect and the immediate parent language to
modern Italian. Its vocabulary and pronunciation are largely identical to standard Italian,
though the hard c[k] between two vowels is pronounced as a fricative [h], similar to an
English h giving Florentines a highly recognizable accent which is the so-called gorgia
toscana.
Actually, Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio pioneered the use of the vernacular instead of the
Latin used for most literary works at the time.

LITERATURE

Writers use their own language which is the Florentine dialect in composing their
works. The oldest literary pieces written in vernacular language go as far back as the 13th
century. Florence's literature fully blossomed in the 14th century.
Here are some writers and their famous writings from Florence:
1. ALIGHIERI DANTES DIVINE COMEDY: mainly deals with the poet himself taking an
allegoric and moral tour of Hell, Purgatory and finally Heaven, during which he meets
numerous mythological or real characters of his age or before.
2. FRANCESCO PETRARCHS THE CANZONIERE: is a lyrical poems about Laura, a
woman he had fallen in unrequited love with after seeing her in an Avignon church on
April 6, 1327. Petrarch is considered the one of the fathers of the modern Italian
language. Moreover, Petrarchs writing style has become known as Petrarchism.

3. GUIDO CAVALCANTIS DONNA MI PREGA

4. GIOVANNI BOCCACCIOS DECAMERON: a slightly grim story of Florence during the
1350s bubonic plague, known as the Black Death, when some people fled the
ravaged city to an isolated country mansion, and spent their time there recounting
stories and novellas taken from the medieval and contemporary tradition.
5. NICCOL MACHIAVELLIS THE PRINCE: ideas on how rulers should govern the
land, detailed in The Prince, spread across European courts and enjoyed enduring
popularity for centuries. These principles became known as Machiavellianism.

MUSIC
Florence became a musical centre during the Middle Ages where music and the
performing arts remain an important part of its culture. During the Renaissance, there were
four kinds of musical patronage in the city with respect to both sacred and secular music:
state, corporate, church, and private. It was here that the Florentine Camerata convened in
the mid-16th century and experimented with setting tales of Greek mythology to music and
staging the result.

Opera was invented in Florence in the late 16th century.The first operas set the
wheels in motion not just for the further development of the operatic form, but for later
developments of separate "classical" forms such as the symphony.

Composers and musicians who have lived in Florence include Piero Strozzi (1550
after 1608), Giulio Caccini (15511618) and Mike Francis (19612009).

CINEMA
Florence has been a setting for numerous works of fiction and movies, including the
novels and associated films, such as Light in the Piazza, Calmi Cuori Appassionati, Hannibal,
A Room with a View, Tea with Mussolini and Virgin Territory.

CUISINE
Florentine food grows out of a tradition of peasant eating rather than rarefied high
cooking. The majority of dishes are based on meat. The whole animal was traditionally
eaten; tripe and stomach were once regularly on the menu and still are sold at the food carts
stationed throughout the city. The typically saltless Tuscan bread, obtained with
natural levain frequently features in Florentine courses, especially in its soups, ribollita and
pappa al pomodoro, or in the salad of bread and fresh vegetables called panzanella that is

served in summer. The bistecca alla fiorentina is a large (the customary size should weigh
around 1200 grams "40 oz.") the "date" steak T-bone steak of Chianina beef cooked
over hot charcoal and served very rare with its more recently derived version, the tagliata,
sliced rare beef served on a bed of arugula, often with slices of Parmesan cheese on top.
Most of these courses are generally served with local olive oil, also a prime product enjoying
a
worldwide
reputation.
Among the desserts, "schiacciata alla fiorentina" (white flatbread cake) is one of the most
popular; it is a very soft cake, prepared with extremely simple ingredients as it is peculiar of
the florentine cuisine, and it is typically eaten on Carnival time.

SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY

Florentines were one of the driving forces behind the Age of Discovery. Florentine
bankers financed Henry the Navigator and the Portuguese explorers who pioneered the
route around Africa to India and the Far East. It was a map drawn by the Florentine Paolo dal
Pozzo Toscanelli, a student of Brunelleschi, that Christopher Columbus used to sell his
"enterprise" to the Spanish monarchs, and which he used on his first voyage. Mercator's
"Projection" is a refined version of Toscanelli's taking into account the Americas, of which
the Florentine was, obviously, ignorant.
Galileo and other scientists pioneered the study of optics, ballistics, astronomy,
anatomy, and so on. Pico della Mirandola, Leonardo Bruni, Machiavelli, and many others laid
the groundwork for our understanding of science.
FASHION
By the year 1300, Florence had become a center of textile production in Europe.
Florence is regarded by some as the birthplace and earliest center of the modern (post
World War II) fashion industry in Italy. The Florentine "soires" of the early 1950s organized
by Giovanni Battista Giorgini were events where several Italian designers participated in
group shows and first garnered international attention. Florence has served as the home of
the Italian fashion company Salvatore Ferragamo since 928. Gucci,Roberto Cavalli,
and Emilio Pucci are also headquartered in Florence. Other major players in the fashion
industry such as Prada and Chanel have large offices and stores in Florence or its outskirts.
Florence's main upscale shopping street is Via de' Tornabuoni, where major luxury fashion
houses and jewelry labels, such as Armani and Bulgari, have their elegant boutiques. Via del
Parione and Via Roma are other streets that are also well known for their high-end fashion
stores.

FAMOUS PEOPLE FROM FLORENCE

1. GALILEO GALILEI
o father of modern science
o made major contributions to the fields of physics, astronomy, cosmology,
mathematics and philosophy.
o invented an improved telescope that let him observe and describe the moons
of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, the phases of Venus, sunspots and the rugged
lunar surface

2. MICHAELANGELO BUONARROTI
o a sculptor, painter and architect widely considered to be one of the greatest
artists of the Italian Renaissance period
o His resulting work, most notably his Piet and David sculptures and Sistine
Chapel ceiling paintings
3. DONATELLO
o the greatest Florentine sculptor before Michelangelo and was the most
influential individual artist of the 15th century in Italy.
o invented the thin relief technique a technique that makes the sculpture seems
deep but is actually done on a very shallow plane
4. DANTE ALIGHIERI
o Father of modern Italian
o An Italian poet and moral philosopher best known for the epic poem The
Divine Comedy
5. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
o During the Crimean War, she and a team of nurses improved the unsanitary
conditions at a British base hospital, reducing the death count by two-thirds.
Her writings sparked worldwide health care reform.
6. Carlo Lorenzini
o Italian author and journalist, best known as the creator of Pinocchio.
7. LEONARDO DA VINCI
o famous for his designs, art, cartography, geology, and studies.
o Leonardo's designs later helped us to invent things like the tank, parachute,
helicopter and many other things
o talented artist. Most of his pictures and paintings are in art galleries and
museums. One of his most known paintings is the Mona Lisa.
EVENTS IN FLORENCE
1. EPIPHANY - JANUARY 6
Epiphany commemorates the arrival of the Three Kings in Bethlehem. It also
marks La Befana, Italy's traditional day of gift giving. The Befana is an old, witch-like
woman who, like Santa Claus. Stockings are hung out on the night of the fifth, waiting
to be filled by the Befana with sweets for the good and coal for naughty kids. In
celebration of the Epiphany, a "Cavalcade of the Three Kings" takes place in
downtown Florence on the afternoon of January 6. On this special occasion, a parade
in beautiful Renaissance costumes starts from Palazzo Pitti and winds its way through
the city
2. Florentine New Year- March 25
The traditional Florentine New Year, on the feast of the Annunciation, begins in
the Palazzo Vecchio with a morning parade filling the streets with elaborate medieval
dress and music. From 1250 to 1750 the people of Florence gathered in the SS
Annunziata to welcome the arrival of spring and to officially celebrate the
Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel told Mary that she would be the mother of
Christ.
Legend says the artist commissioned to paint the Annunciation fell asleep
after completing all but the face of the Virgin Mary. Upon his awakening, he found a
completed, beautiful blonde Madonna - angelic masters had finished the fresco for
him. Florentines have communed on March 25 in the presence of this holy image for
centuries, and in fact were so devoted to the Madonna that for 168 years, until 1750,
they refused to accept the Gregorian calendar year that begins on January 1.

3. Scoppio del Carro- April

A major event in Florence, the Scoppio del Carro, or the "explosion of the
cart", dates back almost 400 years. An elaborate wagon built in 1622 and standing
two to three stories high is dragged through Florence behind a fleet of white oxen
decorated in garlands to the square between the Baptistry and Cathedral. The cart,
properly rigged with a suitable arsenal of fireworks, awaits a dove-shaped rocket
(symbolising the Holy Spirit) from the Cathedral altar which sets off a ferocious dance
of fire on impact. In old tradition, a big bang meant a good harvest.
4. Patron Saint Feast Day / Calcio Storico- June 24:
Fabulous fireworks on June 24 conclude Florence's celebrations to St. John the
Baptist, the patron saint of the city. In the late afternoon, the historical football match
- Calcio Storico - is played in Piazza Santa Croce, preceded by a parade through the
historical center from piazza Santa Maria Novella to piazza Santa Croce. The Calcio
Storico commemorates a similar match played by a soldier trapped in the city in
1530. This Renaissance soccer game is played by teams from four neighborhoods in
Florence: Santa Croce (blue), Santo Spirito (white), Santa Maria Novella (red), and
San Giovanni (green). The game is a combination of soccer, rugby, and big time
wrestling, all played while wearing 16th century costumes.
5. PITTI IMMAGINE
Florence hosts five fashion events; Pitti Immagine Uomo, Bimbo, Filati, Casa
and ModaPelle. Pitti Immagine's mission is to stage fashion fairs and events in the
sense of production-consumption, and esthetic and cultural design. The shows have
shifted from fashion as a product to fashion as global lifestyles, as striking settings,
as social relations and communication among classes, generations and cultures
DOS AND DONTS
1. Appropriate Dress: Be respectful when visiting churches. Women should cover
shoulders and knees. Neither men nor women should wear shorts in churches.
2. Religious Services: Many visitors flaunt this cultural rule, but you should resist the
temptation to walk around churches while services are in progress.
3. Smart Casual: Italians tend to dress more smartly for social occasions, including
eating out, than most U.S. and other European visitors. Men will only need a jacket
and tie for the grandest restaurants, but should avoid sneakers, shorts, and
sportswear, especially when dining out in the evening.
4. Alcohol: Most Italians drink the odd glass of wine with meals, but excessive drinking
and public drunkenness are rare and frowned upon.
5. Good Impressions: Italians respond well to foreigners who make even a small effort
to speak their language.
6. Caf Culture: Most Florentines stand at the al banco (bar) to drink their coffee. First,
pay for what you want at the la cassa (cash desk) and then take
yourscontrino (receipt) to the bar and repeat your order. If you wish to servizio al
tavola (sit down), then it is waiter service and you will pay more. Never pay bar
prices and then attempt to sit at a table.

7. Smoking: Smoking is banned in enclosed public places, including cafs, bars, and
restaurants, but be aware that Italians still smoke more than most Europeans and
North Americans.
FUN FACTS

The people of Florence are called Florentines, or Fiorentino in Italian

the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of
Florence
the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 382,000 inhabitants,
expanding to over 1,520,000 in the metropolitan area
Centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the
time
considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called "the Athens of
the Middle Ages
The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year,
and Euromonitor International ranked the city as the world's 89th most visited in
2012, with 1.8 million visitors
declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982
noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture and monuments
Due to its artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of
the most beautiful cities in the world
important city in Italian fashion, being ranked in the top 51 fashion capitals of the
world
Florence was severely damaged during World War II by the Germans, who blew up all
its bridges except the Ponte Vecchio as it is alleged Hitler declared it too beautiful to
destroy.
Florence is traditionally divided into four quarters, named after the most important
churches. Three of them are on the right-hand bank of the Arno; Santa Maria Novella,
San Giovanni and the quarter of Santa Croce. The only quarter south of the river is
Santo Spirito.
The piano was invented in Florence by Bartolomeo Cristofor. First known as the
pianoforte which evolved from the harpsichord around 1700 to 1720.