Further information

Florence

Florence was founded during the Ludi Floreales (Floral Games) in honor of the Goddess Flora, Florentia attracted Greek and Syrian merchants, Barbarian tribes, the Byzantines, Lombards and Carolingians. 
As the city endured economic booms and busts, battles for Church reform and for freedom, ancient Florence eventually gained its autonomy. Finally, it became a municipality (or commune) and its history was especially influenced by the power of the merchants, who formed powerful Arts, Trade and other similar guilds. Other characteristics that came to symbolize the city were the competition between Guelphs and Ghibellines, as well as its territorial contentions with the other cities of Tuscany. 

Subsequently the Government of the Signoria and the Medici Family dominated; thanks to the family's regal airs and ambitions, Florence lived a long period of prosperity and erudition, allowing it to become the cradle of Humanism. Following were the Republic, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Lorena Family (who opened Florence to European high society), and finally, Italian unification. 

Having become the undisputed capital of culture, it was also a protagonist of the antifascist movement and post-WWII reconstruction: the city existed in crescendo until coming to a halt after the disastrous flooding of1966. 
Despite certain historic hardshps and interruptions, culture and Florence are inextricably bound. 
Masteful Italian painting has its origins in Florence, where the Renaissance finds its biggest expression in the civic and religious architecture, as well as in sculpture and painting. 
But its legendary arts development would not have been possible without the enormous artistic growth of the Roman and Gothic periods between 1000 and 1300, when Florence was experiencing great economic prosperity. 

To mention some of the most important monuments built during this period: the Baptistery of S. Giovanni, the Basilica di S. Miniato a Monte, Bargello Palace, Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce, and the initial constructions of the city's iconic Duomo and bell tower. Among the protagonists of these works were Arnolfo di Cambio, for leading an architectural renewal, and Cimabue and his genial and revolutionary pupil Giotto for their innovative painting. During the 15th Century, three very important artists stood in the limelight: Masaccio, Donatello and Brunelleschi. 

But of course, for the 1500s we need know only one name: that of Michelangelo. The footprints of all the aforementioned artists have been left in the painting, sculpture and architecture of Florence. With their genius, art evolved dynamically in their time, as did the general understanding of the artist's role. With their contemporaries, they contributed to Florence's aristocratic palaces, churches, statues, paintings and frescoes. As if it had exhausted its energy, no longer able to carry its role as art capital during the from the 1400s to the 1500s, in successive centuries Florence was no longer able to uphold the same universal and innovative standards that it had set. In the 1800s, however, there occurs a significant artistic event: works by the Macchiaioli, among them Giovanni Fattori, Silvestro Lega, and Telemaco Signorini, again innovated (with the help of French impressionism) upon Italian painting.