Firenze
In Middle ages was an important cultural, commercial, economic and financial center. In the modern age has served as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany from 1569 to 1859, with the Government of the families of the Medici and Lorena.
In 1865, Florence was proclaimed capital of Kingdom of Italy. The city has maintained this status until 1871, the year that marks the end of the Risorgimento.
Important University Center and World Heritage site, is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance and is universally recognized as one of the cradles of art and of the architecture as well as renowned as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, thanks to its numerous monuments and museums including the Duomo, Santa Croce, the Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria and Pitti Palace.
Vista panoramica
Florence became recognised as City of art with a priceless heritage of architecture, paintings, sculptures, historical and scientific memoirs, forming the fabric of the city, as in a button Museum.
The heart of Florence is Piazza della Signoria, with its majestic Palazzo Vecchio with the sculptural masterpieces in the Gallery Loggia dei Lanzi and nearby Uffizi Gallery, one of the most renowned art museums in the world. Not far away is the religious center of Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedralwith the majestic Dome (the largest ever built). The huge Cathedral is magnificently with Giotto's Bell Tower, one of the most beautiful in Italy, and the baptistery of San Giovanni, with the famous bronze doors among which the Golden gates of paradise.
Piazza del Duomo Piazza della Signoria
The river Arno, which passes through the city, occupies a place in Florentine history on par with the people who live there. Historically, the local population has a love-hate relationship with the Arno, who led alternately the benefits of trade, and the disasters of floods. Between the bridges that cross the old bridge is unique in the world, with features Jewelers in houses built on it. Crossed by the noble Vasari corridor, is the only bridge in the city to be passed unscathed through World War II.
Ponte Vecchio
In addition to the Uffizi Gallery, Florence has other museums that would be the main artistic attraction than any other major city in the world: Accademia Gallery, the Bargello, the Pitti Palace with its eight museums, including the Palatine Gallery. The Florentines boast of owning the best example of beauty in art and female (the Venus of Botticelli) and men (the David by Michelangelo ).
The left bank of the Arno, (the Oltrarno) is an area rich in monuments where can still be felt, between its secular workshops, the atmosphere of Florence, described for example by Vasco Pratolini. There are many literary ideas throughout the city: from the districts of the tower houses, where the gravestones are reminiscent of the verses that just these places inspired by Dante Alighieri, the serenity of the Medici villas , where he often met theneoplatonic Academy of Lorenzo il Magnifico, up to theaters Pergola and Boboli garden, where they were placed in scenes for the first time melodramas that led to the opera.
"David" di Michelangelo
“Venere” di Botticelli
Florence as "cradle of Renaissance" he has his masterpieces in the works of Filippo Brunelleschi (the Spedale degli Innocenti, the Church of San Lorenzo and the Holy Spirit) and Leon Battista Alberti (the façade of Santa Maria Novella and Rucellai Palace), but also other artistic periods left their masterpieces: from Romanesque by San Miniato al Monte, to Gothic by Santa Croce, extravagance of Mannerism of Giambologna or Bernardo Buontalenti (as the Neptune fountain or the Boboli Gardens), up to the masterpieces of the great Italian architects of the twentieth century as the Santa Maria Novella train station and the Artemio Franchi Stadium respectively of Giovanni Michelucci and Pier Luigi Nervi.
Florence’s Center, with its hundreds of listings is a paradise for shopping and entertainment, with elegant fashion boutiques and the historic cafes the lively historical markets outdoors, as well as to accommodate numerous nightclubs, discos, american-bar, lounge bar and meeting places for aperitifs.
The Florentine cuisine is characterized by four basic elements: the Tuscan bread (dish, without salt, well cooked with a crisp crust and an interior light); extra virgin olive oil; meat (grilled, roasted or Braised beef, venison steaks in wine such as wild boar, rabbit and deer); and finally the Chianti wine.
