Florence, capital of Italy’s Tuscany region, is home to many masterpieces of Renaissance art and architecture. One of its most iconic sights is the Duomo, a cathedral with a terracotta-tiled dome engineered by Brunelleschi and a bell tower by Giotto. This presentation discusses the timeline and evolution of Florence, both culturally and in terms of the size of the city.

1. Florence
A Renaissance City
Arthi Deivanai RM | Kirthi Balakrishnan

2. “The activity, spirit, or time of the
great revival of art, literature, and
learning in Europe beginning in the
14th century and extending to the
17th century, marking the
transition from the medieval to the
modern world, is called
Renaissance.”
According dictiorary.com

3. Cities of the Italian Renaissance
Milan
The earliest settlement on the site of Milan was founded by the
Gauls about 600 BC, and in ensuing centuries it became the
capital of a Celtic tribe known as the Insubres. The emperor
Charles V in 1540 invested his son—the future Philip II of
Spain—with the duchy of Milan. Under Spanish rule—which was
to last until 1706—the political and artistic elite of Milan
rapidly succumbed.
The dramatic period of dynastic struggle, which was also a
period of economic growth, was replaced by a long period of
economic stagnation and political decline associated with
unimaginative foreign rule. In 1630 the city was struck by the
plague. In September 1706 Prince Eugene of Savoy entered
Milan as its first Austrian governor, and the city passed thus
from Spanish to Austrian rule.

4. Venice
Uniquely among Italy’s chief cities, Venice came into being after
the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. The Lombard hordes,
whose incursions into northern Italy began in AD 568, drove
great numbers of mainlanders onto the islands of the lagoon,
previously the homes of itinerant fishermen and salt workers.
By the beginning of the 14th century the republic was swept into
struggles on the mainland of Italy and in the Adriatic and
Mediterranean seas. When the Scaligeri came to power in
Verona, the republic made alliance with the Carraresi of Padua,
with the Florentines, and with the Visconti of Milan, who feared
the rise of a strong territorial lordship in the heart of northern
Italy.
The end of the republic came after the outbreak of the French
Revolution. Napoleon, determined to destroy the Venetian
oligarchy, claimed as a pretext that Venice was hostile to him and
a menace to his line of retreat during his Austrian campaign of
1797.

5. And lastly,
Florence

6. Timeline of Florence
1st Century
CE
Catholic Diocese
of Florence
established
1078 CE
City walls built
1115 -
16 CE
Republic of
Florence
established.
1138 CE
City divided into
six wards.
1269 CE
Flood
1282 CE
Florence adopts
a new system of
government by
members of a
guild
1289 CE
Slavery
abolished.
Event of Fire.
1321 CE
University of
Florence
founded
1348 CE
Black Death
plague
1377 CE
Medici in power.
1529 CE
Siege of
Florence
(1529–30)
begins.

7. Florence - The Origin
FLORENCE, SINCE THE REBUILDING OF THE CENTRAL PORTION
(Centro shaded.)
FLORENCE ABOUT 1795, FROM L. BARDI
The chief streets which seem to have preserved Roman lines are marked in black.

8. Birth of Florentina
The foundation of Florence dates back to Roman times, despite
evidence existing to show that Florence was already occupied
in prehistoric times. The oldest part of the city bears the imprint
of these Roman origins as it originated as one of Caesar's
colonies. For the sake of defense, the city was set at the
confluence of two streams, the Arno and the Mugnone, where
the oldest populations had previously been located.
Rectangular in plan, it was enclosed in a wall about 1800 meters
long. The built-up area, like all the cities founded by the
Romans, was characterized by straight roads which crossed at
right angles. The two main roads led to four towered gates and
converged on a central square, the forum urbis, now Piazza
della Repubblica, where the Curia and the Temple dedicated to
the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva) were later to
rise.

9. Pre-Renaissance
In the latter part of the 13th century Florence reached the zenith of its
economic and demographic development. This was the period when
great things were done in the fields of architecture and town planning,
made possible by the formidable accumulations of capital that resulted
from the expanding commercial and financial activities. The population
had continued to increase and so new city walls were needed and in
1282 a belt 8,500 meters long was planned, enclosing an area of 430
hectares, five times that of the precedent urban area.
During the 14th century, internal strife and wars were aggravated by
famine and epidemics, particularly the deadly plague of 1348, which
aggravated a situation that was already precarious.
The 14th century was therefore a century of political and economic
crisis, it was a period of decisive juncture common to all Western
economies. The crisis was also reflected in the city's architectural
activity which continued at a much slower pace than before.
The growth of Florence from 1300 to 1500

10. City Walls
In the 2nd Century A.D. Florence counted around 10,000
inhabitants, and was surrounded by a first wall; after the fall
of the Western Roman empire the city suffered a deep crisis,
so that in 6th Century it counted a mere 1000 inhabitants: a
second wall was then built, protecting a smaller area than
the Roman one.
Florence flourished then again, and at the beginning of 10th
Century the city was surrounded by a wider third wall which
for the first time extended itself to the river Arno.
The building of the fourth wall was begun in 1078: Florence
was a 20,000 inhabitants city and the Duke of Tuscany had
moved his capital from Lucca to Florence. The new city walls
surrounded also Piazza del Duomo, but the quarters of
Oltrarno remained still unprotected.

11. City Walls
In the years 1173-1175 the city government decided the building of the fifth wall:
for the first time a defence wall was built also in Oltrarno, due to the increasing
importance of the dwellings around the churches of San Felice, San Jacopo in
Soprarno and Santa Felicita.
Three city gates were built in Oltrarno (near today's Piazza San Felice, Costa de'
Magnoli and Piazza Frescobaldi), but a real stone wall was not built: the protection
consisted of palisades connecting the gates and houses whose outer façades were
built without windows in order to offer more protection.
A sixth wall was planned since 1284 (possibly under direction of Arnolfo di
Cambio). These walls enclosed a very wide area and should protect the whole city
with all its newer and outer dwellings. The gates were 35 meters tall, and were
decorated with religious frescoes (the Madonna and Saints); originally, on the
square in front of each gate was also a statue of a famous Florentine writer or poet.
The building of the walls was completed in 1333 - and finally the quarters of
Oltrarno received a complete protection.

12. Socio-Economic Factors
The surge in artistic, literary, and scientific investigation that occurred in Florence in the 14th-16th centuries was facilitated
by Florentines' strong economy, based on money, banking, trade, and with the display of wealth and leisure.
In parallel with leisure evolving from a strong economy, the crises of the Catholic church (especially the controversy over the
French Avignon Papacy and the Great Schism) along with the catastrophic effects of the Black Death led to a re-evaluation of
medieval values, resulting in the development of a humanist culture, stimulated by the works of Petrarch and Boccaccio. This
prompted a revisitation and study of the classical antiquity, leading to the Renaissance.
This renaissance thrived locally from about 1434 to 1534. It halted amid social. moral, and political upheaval. By then, the
inspiration it had created had set the rest of Western Europe ablaze with new ideas.
Florence benefited materially and culturally from this sea-change in social consciousness. In the arts, the creations of
Florentine artists, architects, and musicians were influential in many parts of Europe. The culmination of certain speculations
into the nature of ancient Greek drama by humanist scholars led to the birth of opera in the 1590s.

13. The Renaissance in Florence
Filippo Brunelleschi; between 1420 and 1446 created a group of works which were to
represent one of the most important moments in the history of Florentine architecture
and town-planning. It is then thanks first of all to Brunelleschi and secondly to the
other exponents of the architectural culture of the early 15th century that Florence
was to present itself from then on as the "Renaissance city" idealized by the humanists.
An incredible number of artistic personalities determined the image of the Renaissance
city of whom Donatello, Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro
Botticelli, Beato Angelico, Michelozzo, Giuliano da Sangallo and Benedetto da Maiano
are but a few.
During the years in which the merchant oligarchy governed Florence and in the early period of Medici rule, the
increasingly frequent contacts with examples of Greek and Roman antiquity gave rise to a new spirit and the city became
the center in which Humanism was forged. Man considered himself the ultimate end, eager for rational knowledge and
bent on affirming his dominion over the nature which surrounded him and the history which preceded him. Literary
culture, the sciences, arts and human activities come to the forefront and it was a golden period in European intellect and
culture.

14. Modern and Contemporary Age
The extinction of the Medici line and the accession in 1737 of Francis
Stephen , duke of Lorraine , led to Tuscany's inclusion in the territories of the
Austrian crown . Austrian rule was to end in defeat at the hands of France and
the Kingdom of Sardinia -Piedmont in 1859, and Tuscany became a province
of the united kingdom of Italy in 1861.
Florence replaced Turin as Italy's capital in 1865 and, in an effort to
modernise the city, the old market in the Piazza del Mercato Vecchio and
many medieval houses were pulled down and replaced by a more formal
street plan with newer houses. This development was unpopular and was
prevented from continuing by the efforts of several British and American
people living in the city.
The country's second capital city was superseded by Rome six years later
after the withdrawal of the French troops made its addition to the kingdom
possible.

15. 19th & 20th Century
In the 19th century, the population of Florence doubled to over 230,000, and in the
20th century reached over 450,000 at one point with the growth of tourism, trade,
financial services and the industry.
A foreign community came to represent one-quarter of the population in the second
half of the 19th century and of this period and writers such as James Irving and the
pre-Raphaelite artists captured a romantic vision of the city in their works. During
World War II, the city experienced a year-long German occupation (1943–1944).
On September 25, 1943, Allied bombers targeted central Florence, destroying many
buildings and killing 215 civilians. During the German retreat, Florence was declared
an "open city", thereby avoiding major war damage.
Later between 1966 & 1993 , there were events of flood and fire which destroyed &
damaged a lot of collections , museums, art treasures , some rare books , etc.
In the end of 20th century , restoring & rebuilding of the damaged bridges ,
museums , etc took place.

16. Florence Today
As of 31 October 2010, the population of the city proper is 370,702,
while Eurostat estimates that 696,767 people live in the urban area of
Florence. The Metropolitan Area of Florence, Prato and Pistoia,
constituted in 2000 over an area of roughly 4,800 square kilometres
(1,853 sq mi), is home to 1.5 million people.
Economy:
Tourism is, by far, the most important of all industries and most
of the Florentine economy relies on the money generated by
international arrivals and students studying in the city. The
value tourism to the city totalled some €62.5 billion in 2015
and the number of visitors had increased by 5.5% from the
previous year.
In 2013, Florence was listed as the second best world city by
Condé Nast Traveler.

17. Climate:
Florence has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), tending to Mediterranean (Csa). It has hot summers with moderate or
light rainfall and cool, damp winters. 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. Snow flurries happen almost
every year, but often result in no accumulation.
The highest officially recorded temperature was 42.6 °C (108.7 °F) on 26 July 1983 and the lowest was −23.2 °C (−9.8 °
F) on 12 January 1985.
Streets & Squares:
Florence contains numerous major squares (piazze) and streets. The Piazza della Repubblica is a square in the city
centre, location of the cultural cafés and bourgeois palaces. Among the square's cafés, the Giubbe Rosse café has long
been a meeting place for artists and writers, notably those of Futurism. The Piazza Santa Croce is another; dominated
by the Basilica of Santa Croce, it is a rectangular square in the centre of the city where the Calcio Fiorentino is played
every year. Furthermore, there is the Piazza Santa Trinita, a square near the Arno that mark the end of the Via de'
Tornabuoni street.
Florence also contains various parks and gardens. Such include the Boboli Gardens, the Parco delle Cascine, the
Giardino Bardini and the Giardino dei Semplici, amongst others.

18. Morphology of Florence Over Time
1493 1835 1907

19. Florence
An ever-evolving city
Since it’s inception two millennia ago, Florence has been resilient and alive for centuries, in spite of the various power
struggles, natural disasters, and other forms of adversity.
The grid-like form of ancient Florence served as a guide for the further development of the city, and continues to do so today.
It is only natural that a city that was the birthplace of modern man & his thirst for knowledge is well planned, being the home to
several notable intellectuals in history.
The art & architecture of the renaissance period shaped Florence into what it is today, an immortal city that represents not
only the achievements of the age of enlightenment, but the ability of humanity to adapt & overcome.