History of Florence Tuscany Italy - Travel Guide & Information

This description page of Florence, in the Italian region of Tuscany, will guide you in planning your trip to Italy and help you find useful travel information about the history of this Italian city.

The recent archaeological excavations in Piazza della Signoria provided evidence that present day Firenze was already occupied in prehistoric times. Other signs document the presence of a village in the early Iron Age and in Etruscan times. From around the eighth century BC until 59 BC, the Etruscans who preferred to build their northernmost stronghold on the hilltop, where modern day Fiesole is located, ruled central Italy.

Firenze was founded as a colony of the Etruscan city of Fiesole about 200 BC. Later

Firenze as we know it today, came into existence during Roman times becoming the Roman Florentia, a garrison town controlling the Via Flaminia. It was during the reign of Julius Caesar that Firenze came into existence. In 59 BC he established a colony along the narrowest stretch of the Arno, which is the point where the famous “Ponte Vecchio” crosses the Arno.

The peaceful and prosperous lives of these early Florentines came to an abrupt end in the 5th century as the Roman Empire of the West crumbled before the Barbarian conquerors from northern Europe. The Dark Ages had begun.  The Italian unity would be lost for nearly 1400 years!

In the 8th century AD Charlemagne and his Frankish forces crushed the last of the Barbarian kings of Italy. But, the reprieve was short lived.  Pope Leo III, in a gesture of thanks and to secure Charlemagne’s loyalty, made the mistake of giving him the title of Holy Roman Emperor.  This error in judgment resulted in yet another prolonged period of disharmony and conflict.

Most of Italy came under the rule of the Emperor, which created conflicts between the Emperor and the Pope, driving the Italians into a civil war. The population of Firenze divided their loyalty between the two factions: The Guelf, who supported the Emperor, and Ghibelline who followed the Pope.  A century of bickering prevailed with the Guelphs forming their own government in the 1250s.  By 1292 Firenze nobles were excluded from government.

During this time, local merchants began to organize into guilds, proclaiming themselves the “primo popolo.” It was a first attempt at democratic, republican rule and, though short-lived, gave the merchant class newfound power.  Firenze was emerging as an economic powerhouse. Florentines were papal bankers, instituting the system of international letters of credit; the gold florin became the international standard of currency. With this economic strength came a building boom. Public and private palaces, churches, and basilicas were built, enlarged, or restructured.  Powerful families like the Albizi and the Medici dominated Firenze, becoming bankers to the papacy and Firenze grew ever stronger and richer.

Firenz's golden age occurred during the reign of Lorenzo ' Medici (1449-92), grandson of Cosimo ' Medici, a successful banker who endowed religious institutions with artwork.  This was to be the age that would also establish the Medici fami's powerful foothold in Firenze, a reign that was to continue for almost 300 years.  Lorenzo was an astute politician, highly educated and a great patron of the arts. Called “Il Magnifico (the Magnificent), he gathered around him poets, artists, philosophers, architects, and musicians, organizing cultural events, festivals, and tournaments.  At the same time, the Medici family, experts in both trade and banking, financed explorations that opened up trade routes around the world.  The city grew staggeringly rich and so did the Medicis.  As patrons to the arts, they attracted artists, sculptors, architects, and musicians to Firenze; they encouraged Scholars to rediscover the ancient literature and culture of Greece and Rome. Artists like Michelangelo, Donatello and Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci, Dante, Botticelli, and hundreds more whose works adorn Firenze today, brought art to even greater heights. An explosion of intellectual energy attracted radical thinkers such as Machiavelli, and the dissemination of their ideas via the new medium of printing. The Florentines’ ever-growing expertise in developing banking, accountancy, and the creation of credit saw the whole system become ever richer.  Firenze was caught by an artistic and intellectual fervor that created the Renaissance movement that would change the world forever.  Firenze was, arguably, the cradle of modern Europe with the Medici family the hand that rocked the cradle.

But the family’s reign was to end by the time Loren's son, Piero (1471-1503), took over.  Inept at handling the ci's affairs he was run out of town in 1494 and the Medicis lost their hold on power. The city fell under the control of Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican monk who led a puritanical republic that preached against perceived pagan abuses and persuaded his followers to destroy their books, art, wom's wigs, and jewelry in public “bonfires of the vanities.” Eventually, he so annoyed the pope that he was declared a heretic and hanged.

The Medicis returned to Firenze in the 16th century, having united themselves by marriage with Emperor Charles V.  They ruled for the next 200 years. But even after their return, Firenze never regained its former prestige. By the 1530s most of the major artistic talent had left the city—Michelangelo, for one, had settled in Rome.

The now ineffectual Medici, eventually attaining the title of grand dukes, remained nominally in power until the line died out in 1737, after which time Firenze passed from the Austrians to the French and back again until the unification of Italy. Between 1865 and 1871 Firenze was the capital of the new Kingdom of Italy, until Rome joined the newly created Italy.

And so it went through the centuries – reigns of good years and years of dissent and disruptiveness event to the 20th century when disasters like WW1 left spent, shocked, and vulnerable to Fascist control.  And again, between 1943 and 1944, the city, one of Mussoli's most faithful strongholds, occupied by the Germans, was badly damaged during WW2 by the retreating Germans, who blew up all its bridges except the Ponte Vecchio.  Devastating floods ravaged the city in 1966, causing inestimable damage to its building and artworks, some of which are still being restored.  But for all the tragedy, destruction, the desires of the changing rulers through the centuries, Firenze remains “golden” – it will forever have its fascinating history, captivating culture and extraordinary art that attracts artists, sculptors, musicians, intellectuals and visitors from around the world.

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