Florence

History of Florence

The foundation of Florence dates back to Roman times, despite evidence existing to show that Florence was already occupied in prehistoric times.
The oldest part of the city bears the imprint of these Roman origins as it originated as one of Caesar's colonies.
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..

Florence Art and Culture

Florence contains an exceptional artistic patrimony, glorious testimony to its secular civilization.
Cimabue and Giotto, the fathers of Italian painting, lived here, along with Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano, reformists of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio, founders of the Renaissance; Ghiberti and the Della Robbia; Filippo Lippi and l'Angelico; Botticelli and Paolo Uccello; the universal geniuses Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
Their works, along with those of many generations of artists up to the masters of the present century, are gathered in the city's many museums. On line ticket booking for Italian Galleries and Munsum
In Florence, thanks to Dante, the Italian language was born; with Petrarch and Boccaccio literary studies were affirmed; with Humanism the philosophy and values of classical civilization were revived; with Machiavelli modern political science was born; with Guicciardini, historical prose; and with Galileo, modern experimental science.
Up to the time of Charlemagne, Florence was a university town. Today it includes many specialized institutes and is an international cultural center. Academies, art schools, scientific institutes and cultural centers all contribute to the city's intense activity.

Florence

Capital of the region of Tuscany, has a population of around half a million inhabitants, spreads on the banks of the Arno, between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian seas, almost in the middle of the Italian peninsula.
It is a city which bustles with industry 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. www.trenitalia.com
The Florence "Amerigo Vespucci" airport, where both national and international airlines stop, is located 5 Km. from the city centre.
" Alitalia " low cost " Meridiana "
The main motorway, A1, connects Florence with Bologna and Milano in the North and Rome and Naples in the South
" www.autostrade.it "
Autobus in Florence www.ataf.net/
Taxi in Florence tel.0554242 www.socata.it/  A special service dedicated to the handicapped persons.

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