Luxus-Hotel in Florenz

The small Roman colony of Florentia evolved over the centuries into a free comune, the cradle of the Renaissance, the city of the Grand Duchy, the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. In the Quaternary a lake occupied the site of modern-day Florence. Subsequently a plain formed (crossed from east to west by the Arno), which was sparsely inhabited for thousands of years. In the 7th and 6th centuries BC the Etruscans settled on the surrounding high ground and built Fiesole, venturing only sporadically onto the plain. It was the Romans, in the 1st century BC, who gave shape and substance to the small settlements on the site of today’s city centre; they built a colony, which they called Florentia, laying it out in the square grid plan of the castrum, a military encampment surrounded by fortified walls. They chose a point where the river was narrow and therefore relatively easy to cross, and where the natural artery formed by the Arno valley intersected with the route linking Rome with the Po Valley. There has been an urban centre here ever since, though Florence developed in stops and starts; the modern-day city centre lies above the original settlement laid out by the Romans. For hundreds of years the city was of secondary importance, until, following the Dark Ages of the barbarians, it began to expand in the 12th century as a free comune. In the following century, trade in wool and fabrics, backed by a rich banking system, fuelled the growth of Florence, which became one of the most important cities in Italy. It was governed variously by small power groups and bodies with greater involvement on the part of the populace. A major influence was exercised throughout by the Arti, the merchant and trade guilds, which figured prominently in a series of often very bitter conflicts that also involved the Guelph factions, supporters of the Pope, and the Ghibellines, who supported the emperor, and later the noble families as well. Eventually power fell into the hands of the Medici, a powerful dynasty of bankers, who maintained their grip on Florence and Tuscany for over three centuries, during which time the city became one of the most important artistic and cultural centres in Europe, in particular during the rule of Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449–92) and Cosimo I (1519–74). In 1737 the Medici line died out and the Hapsburg Lorraine dynasty took over. Apart from a brief Napoleonic interlude between 1799 and 1814, they ruled the city and region with great farsightedness and wisdom until 1860, the year in which Tuscany became part of the Kingdom of Italy. Florence was the provisional capital from 1865 to 1871. This important period in the city’s history was marked by profound change, and its destiny became linked to that of the rest of the country. In the 20th century, with the arrival of mass labour on the social and political scene, the great economic changes, the colonial wars, two world wars and Fascism, Florence was one of the cities in Italy to undergo the most significant changes. It suffered heavy damage during the Second World War, both as a result of Anglo-American bombing and in the course of the German retreat. On 4 November 1966, the Arno burst its banks, causing enormous damage to the city’s buildings but above all to its artistic and historic legacy. This attracted a wave of national and international solidarity.