Note: I originally wrote this post in 2017 for my old blog. I have edited and updated it for posting here.
What to read in Florence
- A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
- The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
- The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
- The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
- The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
- The Medici by Paul Strathern
Florence and its History
With the warm and sunny weather and all those villas and cypress trees dotting the landscape, Tuscany is the most famous and romanticized region in Italy. It’s also the home of two of Italy’s most visited cities, Florence and Pisa, the latter of which is easily visited as a day trip from Florence. As the capital of Tuscany, Florence is Italy’s fourth most popular city for tourism after Rome, Milan, and Venice. It has a population of 383,093 people, and over 1.5 million reside within the metro area. Florence is widely considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world and its historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, attracting 13 million tourists each year. When I finally had the opportunity to visit, I was as enchanted by the city as Sandra Bullock’s character in While You Were Sleeping, and understood why the tale of Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View could only be set in motion in a place as sublime as Florence.
Florence is to the Renaissance what Rome is to Ancient Rome: it’s perennial favorite travel destination not only for its beauty but also for its fascinating history. None other than Julius Caesar established it in 59 BC as a settlement for veteran soldiers. Because it was situated on the main route north from Rome, it quickly became an important commercial center. Much later when it was part of the Duchy of Tuscany, the Florentines rebelled against the rulers of Tuscany and established the Republic of Florence. By the 15th century, Florence was one of the largest and richest cities in Europe. It was truly the birthplace of the Renaissance and was the most important cultural center in Europe of the period. Leonardo da Vinci, Dante Alighieri, Michelangelo, and Niccolò Machiavelli were all residents of Florence in their time. Because of the vast influence of writers and artists from Florence, the Florentine dialect was adopted as the literary language of Italy, and is the basis for modern standardized Italian.
It was also during this time that many of Florence’s most celebrated works of architecture were constructed. The architect Arnolfo di Cambio designed the Palazzo Vecchio, the Basilica di Santa Croce, and the Florence Cathedral, the latter of which took 140 years to complete. The cathedral’s famous dome was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, who is considered a founding father of Renaissance architecture.
During the Renaissance, Florence was ruled by the powerful Medici family, who were bankers to the pope. The first member to gain power was Cosimo de’ Medici, whose grandson, Lorenzo de’ Medici, also known as “Lorenzo the Magnificent,” was a patron of the arts and commissioned works by da Vinci and Michelangelo. The Medici power waned with Lorenzo’s son Piero II, who the Florentines rebelled against after he surrendered to the French King Charles VIII when he invaded the city. Piero II was exiled in 1494, but his brother Giovanni de’ Medici, who would later become Pope Leo X, returned to conquer it in 1512. The Medici family’s main residence was the Pitti Palace, which you can visit today along with the Boboli Gardens.
Perhaps the most famous critic of the Medici is Niccolò Machiavelli, the controversial writer of Il Principe whose ideal ruler would rather be feared than loved. Machiavelli was a senior official in Florence for many years and was responsible for diplomatic and military affairs. The Medici commissioned him to write the Florentine Histories, but shortly after their rule was restored in Florence in 1512, they accused him of conspiracy against them and imprisoned him, though they released him after three weeks. Machiavelli died in 1527 and the Medici eventually turned Florence into a monarchy, and with their conquest of Tuscany, Florence came full circle and was once again part of the Duchy of Tuscany. The Medici continued to rule Tuscany until 1737 when it became part of the Austrian Empire.
My Experience in Florence
Florence was at the top of my list of places to visit in Europe let alone Italy, and I was not disappointed. I felt awestruck by the beauty of the city each of the four days I spent there. The cathedral and baptistry are truly magnificent, and it’s incredible how much history and art you can see at the historical collections at the Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti. And the Boboli and Bardini Gardens were breathtaking as well. It’s the kind of place so beautiful that you’ll run out of adjectives with the same meaning as “glorious” trying to describe it.
My one regret is that I did not visit the Uffizi Gallery where I would have been able to see many works of Renaissance art. The lines were always long and the museum tickets were expensive so I skipped it, though I did wait in line for more than two hours at the Galleria dell’Accademia just to see Michelangelo’s David. Though there are so many other places I want to travel to in Italy, I hope to return to Florence one day because it was really that spectacular. I’ll go to the Uffizi Gallery next time, and get better pictures on my camera than I did on my iPhone 6.
There are two places near Florence that make for easy day trips. Pisa with its leaning tower is easily done as a half-day trip since you don’t need much time there. Fiesole is a town on a hill nearby where you can beautiful views of Florence, and it can be done in even less time. I only spent an hour or so in the evening there.
Since I was working in Europe at the time, I visited Florence during Holy Week in April when everyone else in Europe also had time off of school and work. It was crowded but not uncomfortably so — it felt busy but not packed. Still, I would recommend going at a time that does not coincide with major European or Christian holiday periods if you are able.
