Florence

Florence (Firenze in Italian) is a city on the River Arno in the Italian region of Tuscany. It is best known for Michaelangelo's statue of David, the Baptistery and the Brunelleschi's Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore. (Duomo means cathedral church in Italian)

In 1865, Florence was chosen to be the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and remained capital until 1871. In later years and until the beginning of the twentieth century, Florence was famous for its literary happenings, that produced works such as Pinocchio and which brought writers such as Papini, Palazzeschi, Pratolini to the fore, who were all members of the historical Literary Caffè group the "Giubbe Rosse". [1]

Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore.

The fingerprints of the architect Vasari are all over the city of Florence. Along with the famous corridor above Ponte Vecchio, Vasari also designed the city's most impressive museum, the Uffizi gallery, or Galleria degli Uffizi. Constructed at the behest of Cosimo I de' Medici in the 16th century to house the offices for Florentine magistrates, the museum is now home to the largest collection of Italian and Florentine Renaissance art in the world. [2]

Galleria degli Uffizi

See also[edit]

Dante

• The Renaissance
• Donatello
• Dante Alighieri
• Francesco Petrarch
• Niccolò Machiavelli
• Sandro Botticelli
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Filippo Brunelleschi
• Art cities
• Venice
• Pisa
• Siena

External links[edit]

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore.

• About Florence
• ART AND CULTURE of Florence

Further reading[edit]

• Andres, Glenn; Hunisak, John M.; and Turner, A. Richard. The Art of Florence (2 vol. 1988). 1312 pp.
• Brucker, Gene A. Renaissance Florence (2nd ed. 1983) excerpt and text search
• Hook, Judith. Lorenzo de' Medici: An Historical Biography. (1984). 206 pp.
• Najemy, John M. A History of Florence, 1200–1575 (2008), 528pp; the best scholarly history excerpt and text search
• Partridge, Loren. Art of Renaissance Florence, 1400-1600 (2009)
• Trexler, Richard C. Public Life in Renaissance Florence. (1980). 591 pp.
• Turner, Richard N. Renaissance Florence (2005) excerpt and text search
• Wackernagel, Martin. The World of the Florentine Renaissance Artist: Projects and Patrons, Workshop and Art Market. (1981). 431 pp.

Guide books[edit]

• Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany 2009 by Rick Steves and Gene Openshaw (2008) excerpt and text search
• Florence and Tuscany (Eyewitness Travel Guides) by DK Publishing (2006) excerpt and text search
• Time Out Florence and the Best of Tuscany (Time Out Guides) (2008) excerpt and text search
• Levey, Michael. Florence: A Portrait (1998) excerpt and text search