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FLORENCE,ITALY

(wine and olive), clothing & footwear
 * Population:** 374,500 (men 47 %; women 53 %)
 * Languages:** standard Italian, no dialects.
 * Major industries:** tourism, textiles, food processing

HISTORY Florence was founded by the Romans in the 59B.C. and called Florentia In the actual ' Place of Repubblica' the Foro was found during the imperial period the city increased its richness, it became an active commercial centre where handicraftsmen worked and made Florence famous. During the Barbarian invasion the city occupied by Ostrogoti, Byzantine and Goth of Totila. It was in that period that the inhabitants gathered around the Bishops, in the monasteries, which became centres of culture and work. The Longobardi conquered it later in the VI century and only later the city emerged from the darkness of the middle age into an independent sate. After the Longobardi were defeated by the Franchi, the Duke was substituted by a count; later the counts were substituted by the Marquis. Florence reached the height of its glory between the XI and XV century, becoming one of the main centres of power in Italy, balancing between the authority of Emperors and Popes, superating the fear of the struggling between the Guelfi and Ghibeliini. In the XV century Florence passed under the Signoria dei Granduchi di Tuscany. Lorence and the rest of Tuscany remained under the dominium of Medici for three centuries. In this period the city was at the height of its glory, from the artistic, political and economical point of view, the city developed in an enormous way: painters, sculptors and architects filled roads, churches and palace with the greatest works of art of the Renaissance. In the Granducato dei medici was succeeded by the Loren in the XVIII century, whose Granducato lasted until 1860, in the year in which Florence was the capital from 1865 to 1871. media type="custom" key="13694114"

Geography Florence lies in a basin among the Senese Clavey Hills, particularly the hills of [|Careggi], [|Fiesole], [|Settignano], [|Arcetri], [|Poggio Imperiale] and Bellosguardo (Florence). The [|Arno river] and three other minor rivers flow through it. Florence has a borderline [|humid subtropical] (//Cfa//) and [|Mediterranean climate] (//Csa//).[|[][|17][|]] It has hot, humid summers with moderate rainfall and cool, damp winters. Surrounded by hills in a river valley, Florence can be hot and humid from June to August. As Florence lacks a prevailing wind, summer temperatures are higher than along the coast. Rainfall in summer is [|convectional], while relief rainfall dominates in the winter, with some snow. The highest officially recorded temperature was 42.6 °C (108.7 °F) in 26 July 1983 and the lowest was −23.2 °C (−9.8 °F) on 12 January 1985.[|[][|18][|]]

ART Botticelli's Venus, stored in the Uffizi Sculptures in the Loggia dei Lanzi

Florence has a legendary artistic heritage. Cimabue and Giotto, the fathers of Italian painting, lived in Florence as well as Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano, renewers of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio, forefathers of the Renaissance, Ghiberti and the Della Robbias, Filippo Lippi and Angelico; Botticelli, Paolo Uccello and the universal genius of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Their works, together with those of many other generations of artists, are gathered in the several museums of the town: the Uffizi Gallery, the Palatina gallery with the paintings of the "Golden Ages" the Bargello with the sculptures of the Renaissance, the museum of San Marco with Fra Angelico's works, the Academy, the chapels of the Medicis Buonarroti' s house with the sculptures of Michelangelo, the following museums: Bardini, Horne, Stibbert, Romano, Corsini, The Gallery of Modern Art, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, the museum of Silverware and the museum of Precious Stones Great monuments are the landmarks of Florentine artistic culture: the Florence Baptistery with its mosaics; the Cathedral with its sculptures, the medieval churches with bands of frescoes; public as well as private palaces: Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Pitti, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Palazzo Davanzati; monasteries, cloisters, refectories; the "Certosa". In the archeological museum includes documents of Etruscan civilization. In fact the city is so rich in art that some first time visitors experience the Stendhal syndrome as they encounter its art for the first time. Uffizi hallway

Florentine architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1466) and Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) were among the fathers of both Renaissance and Neoclassical architecture. The cathedral, topped by Brunelleschi's dome, dominates the Florentine skyline. The Florentines decided to start building it – late in the 13th century, without a design for the dome. The project proposed by Brunelleschi in the 14th century was the largest ever built at the time, and the first major dome built in Europe since the two great domes of Roman times – the Pantheon in Rome, and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The dome of Santa Maria del Fiore remains the largest brick construction of its kind in the world. In front of it is the medieval Baptistery. The two buildings incorporate in their decoration the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. In recent years, most of the important works of art from the two buildings – and from the nearby Giotto's Campanile, have been removed and replaced by copies. The originals are now housed in the Museum dell'Opera del Duomo, just to the east of the Cathedral. Florence has large numbers of art-filled churches,such as San Miniato al Monte, San Lorenzo, Santa Maria Novella, Santa Trinita, Santa Maria del Carmine, Santa Croce, Santo Spirito, the Annunziata, Ognissanti and numerous others. he Palazzo della Signoria, better known as the Palazzo Vecchio (English:The Old Palace)

Artists associated with Florence range from Arnolfo di Cambio and Cimabue to Giotto, Nanni di Banco, and Paolo Uccello; through Lorenzo Ghiberti, and Donatello and Massaccio and the della Robbia family; through Fra Angelico and Botticelli and Piero della Francesca, and on to Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Others include Benvenuto Cellini, Andrea del Sarto, Benozzo Gozzoli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Filippo Lippi, Bernardo Buontalenti, Orcagna, Pollaiuolo, Filippino Lippi, Verrocchio, Bronzino, Desiderio da Settignano, Michelozzo, the Rossellis, the Sangallos, and Pontormo. Artists from other regions who worked in Florence include Raphael, Andrea Pisano, Giambologna, Il Sodoma and Peter Paul Rubens. runelleschi's dome

The Uffizi and the Pitti Palace are two of the most famous picture galleries in the world. Two superb collections of sculpture are in the Bargello and the Museum of the Works of the Duomo. They are filled with the creations of Donatello, Verrochio, Desiderio da Settignano, Michelangelo and others. The Accademia has Michelangelo's David – perhaps the most well-known work of art anywhere, plus the unfinished statues of the slaves Michelangelo created for the tomb of Pope Julius II. Other sights include the medieval city hall, the Palazzo della Signoria (also known as the Palazzo Vecchio), the Archeological Museum, the Museum of the History of Science, the Palazzo Davanzatti, the Stibbert Museum, St. Marks, the Medici Chapels, the Museum of the Works of Santa Croce, the Museum of the Cloister of Santa Maria Novella, the Zoological Museum ("La Specola"), the Bardini, and the Museo Horne. There is also a collection of works by the modern sculptor, Marino Marini, in a museum named after him. The Strozzi Palace is the site of special exhibits..