(Firenze), a city in central Italy; one of the country’s most important economic and cultural centers. Capital of the province of Florence and the region of Tuscany. Situated on the Arno River in the center of an intermontane basin. Population, 464,900 (1975).
Florence is an important transportation junction. Industry is represented by instrument-making and the production of machine tools and electrotechnical, electronics, chemical, and other industrial equipment. Diesel engines, photographic equipment, and astronomical instruments are also manufactured. Other important industries are the chemical industry, petroleum refining, the production of textiles, clothing, leather goods, wood products, furniture, glass, foodstuffs, and tobacco products, and the printing industry. In addition, Florence produces jewelry and fine handicrafts. The city has a university, dating from the 14th century. Other cultural and educational institutions include scientific research institutes, libraries, and a conservatory, as well as the Academy of Fine Arts and the La Colombaria Tuscan Academy of Science and Literature. Florence is one of Italy’s main tourist centers.
Florence was founded by the Romans in the first century B.C. on the site of an Etruscan settlement. In the tenth and 11th centuries it was part of the margraviate of Tuscany. Located at the junction of several trade routes, the city became, in the 11th century, a center for banking, commerce, and handicraft production, mainly cloth weaving. In 1115 it became an independent commune. In the mid-13th century the popolani gained ascendancy over the feudal aristocracy; in 1293, Europe’s first constitution directed against the nobility, the Ordinances of Justice, was adopted, depriving the feudal lords of their political rights. In 1252 the city began minting the gold florin, which became the common currency throughout Europe.
It was in 14th-century Florence that early capitalist relations first emerged; manufacturing developed, primarily in the workshops of the lana (wool-merchants’) and silk-manufacturers’ guilds, which relied chiefly on hired labor. New forms of exploitation led, in 1345, to the first strike in history, headed by the wool carder Ciuto Brandini and, in 1378, to the uprising of the ciompi (artisans of the wool industry), who established their own government. The suppression of these popular movements led to the establishment of the Albizzi oligarchy (1382–1434) and, in 1434, to the establishment of a signory (tyranny), such as that of the Medici.
From the 14th to 16th centuries, Florence was the leading center of the Italian Renaissance. Important Renaissance figures who lived and worked in Florence included Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Guicciardini. In the late 15th century, the city entered a period of economic decline. Contributing factors were the rise of the English cloth-weaving industry, which challenged Florence’s dominance, the establishment of new trade routes after the discovery of America, and foreign invasions. In 1494 a popular uprising led to the expulsion of the Medici and the establishment of a republican regime led by Girolamo Savonarola. In 1512 the Medici, assisted by foreign troops, were restored to power and ruled until 1737, except for an interval between 1527 and 1530.
In 1532 the Florentine state, which included a considerable part of Pisa, Leghorn (Livorno), and other cities, became a duchy; in 1569 it became the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and Florence was named its capital. From 1801 to 1807, Florence was the capital of the Kingdom of Etruria, a dependency of Napoleonic France. In 1848 and 1849 it was one of the main centers of the bourgeois revolution. In 1860 it became part of the Sardinian (from 1861, Italian) kingdom, and from 1865 to January 1871 it was the capital of the unified Kingdom of Italy. In 1943 the city was seized by fascist German troops and became the foremost center of the Italian resistance movement. It was liberated in August 1944 in a combined operation by partisans and Anglo-American troops.
The Roman period is reflected in the rectangular plan of the city center. Ruins of medieval fortifications have also been preserved. Most of the city’s buildings, which have made Florence famous as a repository of proto-Renaissance and Renaissance architecture, are concentrated on the right bank of the Arno. On the Piazza del Duomo stands the Baptistery of San Giovanni (consecrated in 1059 and completed in the 13th century), famous for its bronze doors; the south doors (1330–36) are the work of Andrea Pisano, and the north doors and east doors (the Doors of Paradise, 1425–52) are by Lorenzo Ghiberti. Also on the piazza is the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (begun 1296; architect, Arnolfo di Cambio; dome, 1420–36; architect, Brunelleschi; enlarged in the 13th and 19th centuries), whose campanile (1334-c. 1359) was designed by Giotto and others and contains reliefs by Pisano.
On the Piazza della Signoria stands the Palazzo della Signoria, or Palazzo Vecchio (begun 1298; architect, possibly Arnolfo di Cambio; additions designed by G. Vasari and others made in the 15th and 16th centuries), which is now a museum. The Loggia dei Lanzi (c. 1376–80; architects, Benci di Cione and S. Talenti) contains sculptures by Giambologna (Giovanni da Bologna), B. Cellini, and others. The piazza contains other structures, as well as works by Giambologna, Donatello, and others and a copy of Michelangelo’s David.
Florence’s architectural monuments include many churches, notably San Miniato al Monte (begun 1014) and Santa Maria del Carmine (1258), whose Brancacci Chapel contains frescoes by Masaccio (1425–28) and other masters. Other churches include Santa Trinità (1258–80; additions made in the 14th and 16th centuries) and Santa Maria Novella (c. 1278-c. 1360; facade, 1456–70; architect L. B. Alberti), with frescoes by Masaccio, D. Ghirlandaio, Filippo Lippi, and P. Uccello. The interior of the church of Santa Croce (begun in the late 13th century) contains works by Donatello, Benedetto da Maiano, and others; the church is also noted for the marble tomb of Michelangelo (1570; artist, G. Vasari) and the Pazzi Chapel (begun 1429; architect, Brunelleschi), now a museum. The facade of the church of Orsanmichele (begun 1290; architects Arnolfo di Cambio and others), contains niches with sculptures by Ghiberti, Donatello, A. del Verrocchio, and others. The church of San Lorenzo (1422–26; architect, Brunelleschi) includes the Old Sacristy (completed 1428) and the New Sacristy, which houses the Medici Chapel (begun in 1520; architect, Michelangelo), the funerary monument to Lorenzo and Giuliano Medici, the statue of Madonna Medici, and the Laurentian Library (1524), all by Michelangelo. Also notable is the church of Santo Spirito (begun 1444; architect, Brunelleschi).
The palazzi of Florence include the Pitti Palace, which houses the Palatine Gallery; the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi (1444–60; architect, Michelozzo), now a museum; the Palazzo Rucellai (1446–51; built by Rossellino according to plans by L. B. Alberti); the Palazzo Strozzi (begun 1489; architect, Benedetto de Maiano); the Palazzo Pandolfini (c. 1520; architects, Raphael and G. da Sangalla); and the Palazzo degli Uffizi, now the Uffizi Gallery. Other famous buildings include the Spedale degli Innocenti, or Foundling Hospital (1421–44; architect, Brunelleschi), now a museum. Structures built in the present century include the main railroad terminal (1930–36; architects, G. Michelucci and others) and the stadium (1929–32; architect, P. L. Nervi). Several Renaissance villas are located near Florence, including the villa of the Medici in Carreggi (c. 1443).
Florence’s many museums include the Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo, the Museo Nazionale (Bargello), which houses Florentine sculpture and decorative and applied art of the 14th to 17th centuries, and the Academy of Fine Arts, which features art of the Florentine school. The Home Museum specializes in art of the 14th to 16th centuries, and the Museo della Casa Buonarotti contains works by Michelangelo. The Archaeological Museum houses Egyptian, Etruscan, and Roman artifacts.