Firenze, Florence or Renaissance?

Florence or Firenze, such a beautiful city. It’s churches, domes and art. The city is often considered the birthplace of the Italian renaissance. Nowhere else in Italy can you find this many buildings and artworks dating from this period. Here we find Botticelli, da Vinci, Giambologna and Machiavelli. It’s bridges and gothic buildings are a sight for sore eye. A city that takes you back many centuries ago. Have you ever been there? I haven’t.

"Florentia", the florid, was the name given by the Romans to this small settlement located at the foot of the ancient Etruscan Fiesole and founded in the first century BC. The Etruscans, an ancient and mysterious race, of whom we know very little, but who left numerous testimonies around about Florence, had settled on the hills surrounding the plain of the river Arno as far back as the VII-VI centuries BC. At first erected as a Roman "castrum", Florentia soon assumed the appearance of a real town with a Forum,thermal baths , and amphitheater.

Then the period of the decline of the Empire arrived, with the political fragmentation from which the feudal system sprang up. The town, began to expand until it spread over half of Arno valley and surrounding hillsides.Despite the internal struggles, first between rival families and then between the Guelfs (loyal to the Pope) and the Ghibellines (loyal to the Emperor), from the thirteenth century onwards it began to flourish as a city of art, culture and international trading, reaching its zenith in the fifteenth century under the Signoria of Cosimo and Lorenzo de’ Medici.

No what to see then: (I was instructed to put together a tour as an assignment for school…which I think is a great idea but since I have not been there as a person and only in my dreams I am open to suggestions and alterations, thanks)

- Ofcourse the Ponte Vecchio, this bridge is one of the most important symbols for the city
- Palazzo degli Uffizi is a palace in Florence, in here we find one of the most important art museums in the world: Galleria degli Uffizi. Here you can wonder yourself over painters like: Duccio, Giotto, Simone Martini, Cimabue, Fra Angelico, Masaccio, Filippo Lippi and his son Filippino Lippi, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafaël, Titiaan, Rubens, Caravaggio en Rembrandt.

- The Loggia (dei lanzi): this is a gallery of statues on the Piazza della Signoria. The gallery was build between 1376 and 1382. A famous statue that you can find here is Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa
- The Baptistry: the Baptistry is one of the oldest buildings in the city. Some say it was built in the eleventh century; some even say it dates to the fifth century, the site of a Romanesque building. The precious bronze doors are famous. The East Door, called "of Paradise" because Michelangelo referred to it in this way, is Ghiberti's most famous work, completed with the help of Michelozzo, Gozzoli and others (1424-52).

- Basilica of Santa Croce: The gothic basilica of Santa Croce, built between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries according to the plans of Arnolfo di Cambio, has a grandious and austere appearance.It is well known because some of the most famous Italians in history like Machiavelli, Michelangelo and Galilei are buried here.

- And don’t forget the Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore). The grandious structure of the dome, 114 meters high, shows a magnificent architectural plasticity that greatly surpasses the limits of the gothic. The dome was finished in 1436 according to Brunelleschi's plans.

This city is so on my travel wish-list for next year!