Florence is the capital and the most populous city of the Italian region of Tuscany.

It was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of
that era.
It is considered to be the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called "the Athens of
the Middle Ages". Nowadays, the city attracts millions of tourists each year, being declared
as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. Due to Florence's artistic and architectural
heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family and
numerous religious and republican revolutions. Florence was home to the Medici, one of
European history's most important noble families. Lorenzo de' Medici, Lorenzo il Magnifico,
the third Medici to achieve power, was considered a political and cultural mastermind of
Italy in the late 15th century, when the city was among the largest ones in Europe,
considered rich and economically successful. Life was not idyllic for all residents though,
because there were great disparities in wealth among population.
The fact that the Medici were bankers to the pope also contributed to their ascendancy.
Lorenzo was a great patron of the arts, commissioning works by Michelangelo, Leonardo da
Vinci and Botticelli.

The main sights of Florence is the Florence Cathedral (Cattedralle di Santa Maria del Fiore),
the Palazzo Vecchio, the Ponte Vecchio and the Palazzo Pitti.

The cathedral complex, located in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto's
Campanile. These three buildings that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site are the
major attraction to tourists. The basilica is one of Italy's largest churches, and, until the
development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in
the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed.

The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria with
its copy – the original one is at Galleria dell’Accademia – of Michelangelo's David statue. It
has been given several names in accordance with the varying use of the palace during its
long history. The building acquired its current name when the Medici duke's residence was
moved across the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti, with its Boboli Gardens. Both palaces are linked
by a corridor called Vasari Corridor, through the Ufizzi - Galleria degli Uffizi – and over the
Ponte Vecchio.

Many renowned artists were born in Florence or at least have their name linked to the
city’s history. Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio are examples of Florentine writers
that helped historians learn about the city’s past and to contributed to the born of Italian as
a language.

The most famous work of Dante is the Divine Comedy which 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, symbolizing
the soul’s journey towards God, being one of the most important pieces of world literature.

The Decameron, written by Boccaccio, is a collection of novellas containing 100 tales told by
a group of people in which the writer was included while they were sheltering in a secluded
villa just outside Florence to escape the Black Death, the plague. They are tales of love
ranging from erotic to tragic.

Being born at Vinci, part of the Republic of Florence, Leonardo da Vinci lived his young days
at Florence while used to be Verrocchio’s pupil and Lorenzo di Medici was his
contemporary, as well as Botticelli, who was a particular favorite of the Medici family thus
his success as a painter was completely assured.