Florence

Introducing Florence

Florence is considered one of the most magnificent cities in Italy, as well as the world. Located in the heart of Tuscany, the tourist can find fields of sunflowers, miles of vineyards, rolling hills and mountaintop castles. This place is the Renaissance capital of the world, its famous sons are Leonardo Da Vinci, Dante Alighieri, Machiavelli, Fra Angelico and Michelangelo. It is a destination not to be missed.

Florence has an exceptional artistic patrimony, celebrated testimony to its secular civilization. Cimabue and Giotto were considered the fathers of Italian painting, they lived in this place, along with Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano, reformists of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio, founders of the Renaissance. The Italian Renaissance, Europe's richest cultural period, began in Florence when the artist Brunelleschi finished the Duomo, with the huge dome. Ghiberti and the Della Robbia; Filippo Lippi and l'Angelico; Botticelli and Paolo Uccello; the universal geniuses Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Their works are exhibited in the city's many museums and known around of the world. Boccaccio wrote his 'Decameron' in Florence. From the 13th to the 16th century it was a seemingly endless source of creative masterpieces and Italian genius. During the Italian Renaissance Florence constructed its renaissance palaces and squares, turning it into a living museum. Many squares, such as Piazza della Signoria exhibit famous statues and fountains.

Probably Florence is a city of incomparable indoor pleasures. Its chapels, galleries and museums are an incomparable treasure, apprehending the complex, often elusive spirit of the Renaissance more fully than any other place in the country. The most famous museum in Florence is the Uffizi which houses works by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian and Rubens. Other great art museums include the Pitti Palace, Galleria dell'Accademia and Palazzo Vecchio. Florence is also home to some of the biggest churches in Italy, including the famous Duomo of Florence, San Lorenzo, Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce.

The surroundings of Florence have many things to offer to the visitor. You can explore this region for weeks without being bored. For these day trips the city of Florence is the perfect starting point. 

 

City of Florence

Florence is the capital of the region of Tuscany, it enjoys of a population of around half a million inhabitants, this city is located on the banks of the Arno, between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian seas, almost in the middle of the Italian peninsula. Florence possess industries and craft, commerce and culture, art and science. Being on the main national railway lines, it is easily accessible from most important places both in Italy and abroad. The Florence "Vespucci" airport, where both national and international airlines stop, is located 5 Km. from the city centre. The main motorway, A1, connects Florence with Bologna and Milano in the North and Rome and Naples in the South. The motorway A11 to the sea joins it to Prato, Pistoia, Montecatini, Lucca, Pisa and all the resorts on the Tyrrhenian sea. There is also motorway which connects Florence to Siena. The climate is temperate but rather variable, with breezy winters and hot summers.

The Chianti area, between Florence and Siena, is one of the most beautiful countrysides in Italy and a famous wine production area. Tourism and crafts produce abundant sources of income (jewelry, embroidery, footwear, leatherwork, ceramics, wrought-iron and basket work, lace and reproduction furniture).

Florence attracts a high proportion of international travelers to Italy. The city is a live centre of culture, and coordinates periodical exhibitions and art festivals. Industry, though consisting generally of small and medium-sized firms, has fairly important precision engineering, optical, pharmaceutical, chemical, metallurgical, publishing and textile sectors. The economy of Florence is based mainly on the services sector, as the city is an important commercial centre. The traditional centuries-old banking and financial sector continues to flourish.

Florence is a complicated city for beginners, the total volume of people crammed into this centre of this Renaissance city can be overwhelming. But visiting out of season, when the queues are shorter and all is more calmed. Nearly all of the main sights in Florence lie within the "centro storico". However, there is so much classic art that even given the city's small size, it's impossible to see it all in a short visit. Go for quality, not quantity and don’t feel as if you have to see it all. 

Florence History

The history of Florence started with the establishment in 59 BC of a colony for Roman former soldiers, with the name Florentia. Julius Caesar had allocated the fertile soil of the valley of the Arno to his veterans. They built a castrum in a chessboard pattern of an army camp, with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. This pattern can still be found in the city center. Florentia was situated at the Via Cassia, the main route between Rome and the North. Through this advantageous position, the settlement could rapidly expand into an important commercial center. Emperor Diocletian made Florentia capital of the province of Tuscia in the 3rd century AD.

For the sake of defense, the city was set at the confluence of two streams, the Arno and the Mugnone, where the oldest populations had previously been located.

Rectangular in plan, it was enclosed in a wall about 1800 meters long. The built-up area, like all the cities founded by the Romans, was characterized by straight roads which crossed at right angles. The two main roads led to four towered gates and converged on a central square, the forum urbis, now Piazza della Repubblica, where the Curia and the Temple dedicated to the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva) were later to rise. Archaeological finds, many of which came to light during the course of works which "gave new life", to the old city center, have made it possible to locate and identify the remains of various important public works such as the Capitoline Baths, the Baths of Capaccio, the sewage system, the pavement of the streets and the Temple of Isis, in Piazza San Firenze. At that time the Arno was outside the walls, with a river port that constituted an important infrastructure for the city, for in Roman times the river was navigable from its mouth up to its confluence with the Affrico, upstream from Florence, and the first bridge in Florentine history was built in all likelihood somewhat upstream from today's Ponte Vecchio, around the first century B.C..

Thanks to its favorable position and the role it played in the ambit of the territorial organization in the region and it soon superceded Arezzo as the leading center in northern Etruria, the city expanded rapidly. Economic power was the driving force behind the urban growth of the young colony. Commercial activity and trade thrived thanks to the fact that important communications routes, land and water, intersected at Florentia and offer an explanation for the presence of those oriental merchants, probably on their way from Pisa, who first introduced the cult of Isis and then, in the 2nd century, Christianity.

The earliest indications of the Christian religion are bound to the cults of the deacon Lorenzo and the Palestinian saint, Felicita and so the first Florentine churches were built: San Lorenzo consecrated in 393, the first diocese, and Santa Felicita, whose origins go back to the 4th and 5th centuries. However, the Florentines do not seem to have had a bishop prior to the late 3rd century. The first one recorded is San Felice who participated in a Roman synod in 313.

The surge in artistic, literary, and scientific investigation that occurred in Florence in the 14th-16th centuries was precipitated by Florentines' preoccupation with money, banking and trade and with the display of wealth and leisure.

In addition, the crises of the Roman Catholic church (especially the controversy over the French Avignon Papacy and the Great Schism), along with the catastrophic effects of the Black Death, led to a re-evaluation of medieval values, resulting in the development of a humanist culture, stimulated by the works of Petrarch and Boccaccio. This prompted a revisitation and study of the classical antiquity, leading to the Renaissance. Florence benefited materially and culturally from this sea-change in social consciousness.

Florence Arrival

Thanks to its two international airports at Florence and Pisa, Tuscany is well connected with Italy and also with Europe and beyond, the main gateways to this beautiful region. However, Tuscany is not limited to its regional airports, excellent rail link can make flying to and from surounding airports at Bologna (and Bologna Forli), Milan (Linate and Malpensa) and Rome (Fiumicino and Ciampino) very easy. Florence's Aeroporto Amerigo Vespucci, 5km northwest in Perètola, is linked to SMN station by ATAF city bus #62 (every 25min; L1500/0.77) and SITA buses (hourly; L6000/3.10). Details to parking.

Florence has a number of train stations that link the main areas of the city. The principle train station is Santa Maria Novella also it is called Firenze SMN, located right in the city centre, in Piazza Stazione, front of the Santa Maria Novella Church. High-speed, long-distance trains connect Florence Santa Maria Novella with other Italian and European cities via the the main north south line running from Milan to Rome. In general train travel is relatively inexpensive and rapid. Connections from Florence to Rome and Milan are excellent, and Rome is roughly 1 hour 40 minutes away, and Milan is 3 hours away on the high speed trains.

The main motorway (A1) connects Florence with Bologna and Milano in the North and Rome and Naples in the South. The motorway to the sea (Autostrada del Mare) joins it to Prato, Pistoia, Montecatini, Lucca, Pisa and all the resorts on the Tyrrhenian sea. There is also the Superstrada (a dual-carriageway) which connects Florence to Siena.

The city's largest tourist office is at Via Cavour 1r (Tel: 055 290 832; Fax: 055 276 0383), about 3 blocks north of the Duomo. Outrageously, they now charge for basic, useful info: 50€ (65¢) for a city map (though there's still a free one that differs only in lacking relatively inane brief descriptions of the museums and sights), 2€ ($2.60) for a little guide to museums and 1€ ($1.30) each for pamphlets on the bridges and the piazze of Florence. The monthly Informacittà pamphlet on events, exhibits, and concerts is still free. It's open Monday through Saturday from 8:30am to 6:30pm and Sunday from 8:30am to 1:30pm.
 

Best of Florence

Santa Maria Novella
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, located just across the main railway station which shares its name. From its front view, the church of Santa Maria Novella is one of the city's most beautiful buildings, and inside it has yet more fabulous Renaissance frescoes, by Uccello, Ghirlandaio and others.

Bóboli Gardens
For a break from the streets, take a picnic into the meandering paths of the Bóboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace, before entering the city's number two art gallery.

Brunelleschi's Dome
What Masaccio did for painting, his contemporary Brunelleschi did for architecture; he created the cathedral's amazing dome, which offers a stunning view of the city.

San Miniato al Monte
Walk across the Ponte Vecchio and turn left to reach the marble-fronted church of San Miniato - the building itself is exquisite, and you get a classic view of Florence from its front door.

Benvenuto
Benvenuto looks more like a delicatessen than a trattoria from the street, but the groups waiting for a table give the game away; the gnocchi and arista are delicious.

Santa Croce
Santa Croce is a wonderful Gothic basilica containing superb frescoes by Giotto and others, with tranquil cloisters adjoining.

The Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi Gallery is one of the gratiest museums in Italy and the world.

The Brancacci Chapel
Encapsulating the dawning of the Renaissance, Masaccio's set of frescos in the Brancacci Chapel of the Carmini church is worth a visit, however long you have to wait to get in.

Vivoli
Vivoli serves up the finest Florentine ice cream; search it out in tiny Via Isola delle Stinche.

Fiesole
The little hill town of Fiesole is a great place from which to survey the city of Florence; and you'll get a taste for the more bucolic pleasures that await elsewhere in Tuscany. 

Florence Eating & Drinking

The region of Florence has one of the most versatile and varied-form cooking traditions in Italy. Florentine food in particular, is essentially based on simple, natural ingredients, deriving from the traditions of peasant food and is therefore, wholesome and tasty, featuring more often than not broths and stews. The three main symbols that define Tuscan gastronomy are wine, olive oil and bread. This special gastronomic art has recently been reconsidered by the world of more sophisticated cuisine. Cereals, bread, vegetable and oil (which must be extra-virgin), tasty soups, roast and grilled meat (the famous "bistecca and grilled chicken"), boiled meat, cheese, an abundance of vegetables and fresh fruit, salamis and cold meats, and typical vegetable dishes are the basis of many recipes that just have to be tried in one of the many restaurants in Florence.

Of course you will find several restaurants focused on international specialties, but once you are in Florence, we strictly recommend tasting the Italian.

Maybe you cannot talk about Tuscan cuisine without mentioning the wines, wines are famously substantial, Chianti in particular. It is said Chianti wines were first invented back in 1860. Today they are produced across the region and exported on a massive scale. Chianti Classico however only comes from the area between Florence and Siena and every bottle proudly bears the growers label of a black cockerel on a gold background. 

Florence Nightlife

Florence offers a lot of opportunities for entertainment, with many clubs, pubs and discos. Florence's nights can be spent not only inside a club but even on the road looking at the marvelous monuments illuminated by the moon, or simply walking throughout the roads looking at artists that sing and play with you. Don't forget to go to see the beautiful view of Florence by night from Piazzale Michelangelo. The city's sizeable population of British and American students ensures a supply of English-language films, and the highbrow cultural calendar is filled out with seasons of classical music, opera and dance to rival the best in Europe.

Clubs and pubs are located almost in the centre of the city, around the Cathedral or in other famous squares of the city you can find many small places where you can enjoy of a beer or a glass of the best Chianti wine. Most of them are Irish pubs but, you don't worry there are also English one, American, and even Spanish and if you want to taste Tuscan specialities you absolutely have to spend an evening in an Enoteca. Entry to clubs is expensive at around €13, although tickets usually include a free drink at the bar. In the centre there are even some little discos, don't worry about dressing, you can enter anywhere without problems. If you don't want to close yourself in a pub go for a walk under the stars and go to listen to the street musicians.

You might find information in English about concerts and shows at the kiosks in Piazza Repubblica and inside the Palazzo Vecchio; otherwise, consult the tourist offices, check out advertising hoardings around town or get hold of the Firenze Spettacolo monthly listings magazine. 

Florence Weather

Florence encompasses many diverse terrains and landscapes and the rules change from one zone to the next. The climate is temperate but rather variable, with breezy winters and hot summers. You can be sure that July and August in Tuscany will be hot, sometimes stiflingly so, thanks to the humidity levels that can make Florence and the major cities of Tuscany veritable hothouses.

The climate changes around the day in the middle of August (feragosto), when the first rains are expected and with them a beginning of a decrease in temperature. September can still be very hot in October, this is a perfect month to visit Tuscany and Florence, blue skies without the packed cities and the intense heat. But, some like it hot! November has night-time temperatures really start to drop, with crisp autumn days to accompany the main olive harvest throughout Tuscany. Winter in Tuscany can be cold and wet but spring always seems to come quickly. March is azalea and camelia time, whilst April and May are sometimes very wet months.