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Published: January 4th 2024
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They're everywhere!!! 12/30/23
Started the day with a quick history of Florence:
Foundation of Florence: Roman Florence, about year 0 to 500 AD
1st-2nd cent CE:Fiorentia grows into a minor Roman city
59 BC: Rome a Republic, not yet Empire, about 20,000 people (amphitheater would hold); military camp, grew into a city. Roman towns are exactly the same: grid plan, forum, bath complex, theater, etc., city walls, amphitheater is now Santa Croce; pieces of Roman Florence do exist; forum is now Piazza della Republica
312 Constantine legalized Christianity
Gothic (northern european) invasions by end of 300s
476, end of Roman Empire; 405, Fiorentina–Chritian god helped them beat a Gothic invasion; the entire population were immediately converted to Christianity; build first church in Fiorentia
Early Medieval Florence, about 500 to 800/1000 AD: end of Romans, ‘dark ages’
400s-500s: Gothic armies invade Italy
500s-600s: Byzantine armies invade Italy. Lowest population reaches approx 5000 inhabitants
527 Justinian and Byzantines (Eastern Roman Empire, which lasted 1000 years longer than Italian Roman Empire) reinstated rule of law
800: Charlemagne becomes first Holy Roman Emperor. Europe 'organized’, much safer, allowing for movement of pilgrims
Wallpaper
Never know what you find under the plaster!! and merchants HRE takes the tax money, people also paying tithes to the Pope; safer travel means pilgrims (religious tourists), on way to rome, influx of people so need lots of infrastructure for them then merchant class grows.
9th to 11th c–florence and greater areas of tuscany under the control of a count who holds his court in Lucca.
Late Medieval Florence, from about 1000 to 1400 (rapid economic growth), est of city/state, equal to mini nations
Mid 11th c: court of Tuscany moved to Florence. City starts to grow.
1000: people start moving back into the city (safer than before) and rebuild. Cheaper to fill in roman bases than to build new.
1138: Florence becomes a republic. Separate from Tuscany. New set of city walls, merchants (support the pope) and noble families (support HRE) grow. Build tower houses, mini family fortresses (clans), vendetta break out
1200: pop 40-50,000: merchant class over old nobles. Age of guilds: Bankers, lawyers. 1280: new city walls, armory, town hall, cathedral
1300: pop 90-100,000
1348: black death strikes, pop drops by about 40%!t(MISSING)o 50-60,000
–wool industry: import raw english wool, finish
to fabric and travel around, selling lots of cash, morph into banking families.
Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance–from about 1400 to 1550/1600
Years of innovation, humanism, artistic patronage
The Medici as ‘de facto’ rulers of Florence by 1436, then Lorenzo the Magnificent, late 1400s
Competition bred lots of innovation
1500s, Medicis move to Rome and get two popes (Leo and Clement); takes over Florence, ends the nation state
The Duchy of Florence and Tuscany - from 1532 to 1861
1532: the Medici forcibly take over and establish the Duchy Of Tuscany in 1532
1737: death of Gian Gastone de Medici, the last of the Granducal Dynasty of Cosimo I de Medici. The Hapsburgs succeeded as the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Reign until 1861.
1861 Unification of Italy and Firenze Capitale 1865-1870
The ‘Risanamento’ of Florence
Florence was the capital
Florence during WWII
August 1944: the occupying Germans mined the bridges
August 16, 1944: Florence liberated
The Flood of 1966
Then, we set off to walk to
Piazza Santa Maria Novella
Cool house on the piazza. the Baptistry, Duomo, Bell Tower, and the Museum of the Opera (workshop) of the Duomo. Mike and I Followed that with a leisurely lunch at a spot around the corner from the hotel.
In the evening, we attended a pasta-making class and then reaped the benefits of our labors. lots of fun and great food!
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