Its Roman origin dates back to the 59 (BC). The first group of buildings was given to former veteran soldiers by Julius Caesar. This settlement established in the fertile valley of the Arno was called then Florentia (the flourishing one) and it sat on the Via Cassia, the road connection Rome and the north. Its location helped it grew as a prosperous trade centre. It was given a military organization as a military camp with a chessboard organization in which its most important streets, the cardo and the decumanus, met where Piazza della Repubblica is today. In the 3rd century AD it became capital of Tuscia. The first martyr of Florence was Saint Minias who was decapitated in the persecution suffered by the Christians and ordered by Emperor Decius. There is a basilica named after the saint which lies off the place where he was beheaded.
The city suffered from difficult periods in which different peoples or faction fought for it. Ostrogods and Byzantines clashed for power over the region, which can be the reason why about only 1000 inhabitants survived in it. The Lombards brought to it a period of peace in the 6th century. In the 8th century Charlemagne took Florence which was engulfed by the Margraviate of Tuscany. Lucca was designated capital of the duchy. The population in Florence increased and its trading activity enhanced. In the mid 9th century Florence and Fiesole became one and the same county.
Circa 1000 AD Margrave Hugo moved to Florence leaving his residence Lucca. This change made Florence bloom as a city of art. New buildings were built such as the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte in 1013. The baptistry external walls were modified with Romanesque features between mid-11th century and 1128.
In the 12th century Florence became an independent commune whose peace was interrupted by the bloody conflicts between Ghibellines and Guelphs, pro German emperor and pro pope’s respectively. In the mid 13th century Florence was controlled by the Guelphs with their head Luca Grimaldi. Soon within the Guelph group there was a cleft which divided the White and Black parties within the party. Among the White Guelphs was Dante Alighieri who was forced to leave town. Dino Compagni, a white Guelph member, narrated this internal strife in his Chronicles of Florence.
In spite of its internal strife Florence went on growing. The strength and health of its gold currency had a key role in its growth. The fiorin (fiorino d’oro) was established as Florentine’s currency in the mid-13th century. It was the first gold coin on the continent after centuries of lacking a strong currency which could replace silver bars. The Florentine bankers could open their own banks in other town of the continent such as Bruges. One of these bankers was Giovanni Villani author of the Nuova Cronica (New Chronicles), history book on Florence, praised for its value and criticized for its inaccuracies and the supernatural as explanation of some events.
As Florence became stronger, Pisa, its fierce enemy, declined after Genoa‘s victory over it. Florence managed to take control of Pisa at the beginning of the 15th century. The power was then controlled by the merchant group and guilds instead of the aristocracy thanks to an anti-aristocratic movement headed by Giano della Bella, The result of this shift was a group of new laws bearing the name Ordinances of Justice enacted at the end of the 13th century
It is estimated that around 1345, 25,000 people out of 80,000 were backed by the textiles industry. Wool carders rebelled against the aristocratic power in the revolt of ciompi (carders). When the strife was suppressed the Albizzi family, whose rivalry to the Medice was fierce, took control of Florence. The Black Death stroke Florence in 1348.
Cosimo de' Medici ‘s power was so influential that he managed to guide the destiny of Florence without being legally commissioned so as in this period the town was in theory a democracy . His power stemmed from patronage and his relationships with the gente nuova, immigrants to Florence. Being the pope’s bankers also helped him rise to power. Cosimo ‘s position was handed down to his son Piero di Cosimo de Medici and them by his grandson Lorenzo, who became a mecenas of art. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci as well as Botticelli were his favourites. Lorenzo, called il Magnifico by his contemporaries, was also an excellent musician who used to invite other musicians and singers to come to Florence. Among them were Alexander Agricola, Johannes Ghiselin and Heinrich Isaac..
After Lorenzo died in 1492, his son Piero II was ousted in 1494 by the Florentines as he had withdrawn his troops against king Charles VIII of France because of the king’s army magnitude. The republic was established again and the severe austere Dominican prior Girolamo Savonarola became its ruler. As a prior in the monastery of San Marco he had called for return to moral standards, penitence and rejection of earthly wealth. He considered the Medici had been rightly ousted due to their decadence. Savonarola tried to go back to a more democratic office. However, his fault was to accuse Pope Alexander VI of having also fallen into decadence. Savonarola, as a punishment, was forbidden to speak in public. He did not conform to the rule and was excommunicated. Some time later he was falsely accused of heresy, as the Florentines rejected now his passionate teachings. Savonarola was sentenced to death at the stake.
Niccolò Machiavelli’s understanding of the real basis for political manipulation of the Medici and pope, caused his torture and exile from Florence. His writings are ideas on how to create a strong Florence led by strong leadership. They have been considered a way to justify political operations on the basis of expediency, not of principles.. Florentine Histories, the history of the city, was one of the commissions given to him by the Medici. Owing to his relations with the republican government he was accused of conspiracy, arrested, tortured and finally released.
After ousting the Medici, in 1527 Florence became again a republic. The Medici were reestablished in power by the emperor and pope about ten years later. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was created in 1569. It was controlled by this family for 200 years approximately. The Grand Dukes took control of Siena which had been its enemy for centuries. The Republic of Lucca which became the Duchy of Lucca as well as the Principality of Piombino were the only ones in Tuscany to remain autonomous from Florence.
The history of Florence during the Renaissance cannot hide its dark side: it was a period of strife in which many influential families were bitter enemies wanting more power and intrigue stained their relation s. Mobs had a strong power. Treason was even the order of the day among members of one and the same family.
In spite of political conflicts, sometimes violence and divisions there was also room for different types of government and decision-sharing.
From 1328 on for over a hundred years Florence became a republic -city ruled by citizens drawn from the high echelons of the trading and banking families. They devised a sortition method to choose candidates to hold office. Because of popular uprising in the last part of the 13th century and along the 14th century it was not uncommon to alternate spans of time in which public office was also a place in which the middle and lower artisan class made decisions. The Florentines customized a system for decision sharing and for elections to be held so that the rival families and groups could come together and bring to terms. Elections were made every three or four years by those holding office and appointees.
Each sesto or sixth of the city was represented by names of members placed in bags from where they were drawn. Every two months one name was picked up from each bag to become member of the Signoria, the executive power of Florence in those times. So that two members of the same family did not work together in the Signoria there were certain provisions to avoid it.
This system ended up when the Medici seized power in 1434. For Florence to remain under their protection the Medici made some changes to the electoral system. They implemented a system of elected committees they could handle at will by means of goodwill or fear. Civic sortition went on. However, the real power was in the Medici’s hands. In 1465, a movement to enhance real civic lotteries was crushed thanks to a committee’s decision mostly backed by Medicean supporters.
From the 14th to the 16th century art, literature and science were encouraged thanks to the interest the Florentines had on money they could raise from it and banking and business activities and with wealth’s display.
There were many factors contributing to the great change that brought about the development of Renaissance: the Catholic Church crisis, the East-West Schism, the Avignon Papacy and the decimation the Black Death produced. The values of the Middle Ages were doubted and a new sight into life from a humanistic point of view came together with the writings and thought of Petrarch and Boccaccio. The Antiquity studies were resumed. Florence emerged richer as to finances and culture from this great change from a god centered point of view to a man centered one.
In 1865 Florence became capital of the Kingdom of Italy after Turin. In its interim as capital the town was remodelled. Among the modifications some buildings were demolished such as medieval houses and the old market in the Piazza del Mercato Vecchio. The idea was to create a renewed street scheme and build new buildings and houses. The Piazza della Republica , in those times called Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, was enlarged and a big triumphal arch was built on the west extreme of it. This development was not widely accepted and thanks to British and American residents it came to halt. There is a museum off the piazza devoted to preserve artefacts and pieces related to the changes performed in the square. Once the French troops left Rome, it became the capital of the kingdom.
When the last member of the Medici lineage died, Francis Stephen, duke of Lorraine and husband of Maria Theresa of Austria, took the crown in 1737. Tuscany was engulfed temporarily by the Austrian crown. It became a right of inheritance of the second son of the House of the Habsburg-Lorraine. This family was dethroned by the Bourbon-Parma in 1801 and they, in turn, were deposed in 1807. The Austrian ‘s control finished when France became the ruler of the region until the Congress of Vienna was held. Tuscany was turned into a province of the United Kingdom of Italy in 1861
The Florentine population increased in the 19th to reach its double, while in the 20th century it became the triple thanks to tourism industry, commercial and industrial activities. The foreign group was one quarter of its population in the second half of the 19th century. In those times many English men, Romanticists and pre-Raphaelites moved to Florence and its surroundings to live in villas which later on turned into museums with the collection then amassed by its dwellers. Some of them are the Museum Horne, the Stibbert Museum, Villa La Pietra, etc.
During World War II the city was occupied by the German troops for a year. The bombing raid by the Allies in September 1943 killed 215 civilians and destructed much of the construction in the centre of Florence.
During the German retreat, Florence was declared an open city, which prevented further damage to its wealth of culture and art. Before the Germans’ retreat, the occupying army killed freedom fighters and political rivals in public in streets and squares. On leaving town they destroyed the Arno’s bridges with the exception of Ponte Vecchio, for its ravishing beauty, upon request of Charle Steinhauslin, who managed to prevent the German general to have it blown. However, some historic areas as well as part of the Corridoio Vassariano were mined and blown up to prevent the British troops to follow them. From then on the bridges have been rebuilt using, if possible, the original materials. However, the Ponte Vecchio area was reconstructed mingling ancient and modern style. The Allied soldiers dying while ousting the Germans lie in the cemeteries outside Florence.
The flood of the Arno in 1966 destroyed or damaged many pieces of art preserved in the centre of town. The authorities did not warn inhabitants about it. Only the jewelers in Ponte Vecchio were phoned. There were different people from around the world flocking to Florence to help restore its beauties. Innovative methods of art conservation emerged from this help. It is possible to learn about the height the Arno’s level reached in 1966 flood as there are little plaques showing it. In spite of the long time that has passed there are still pieces of art which have not yet been restored.
