Welcome to Florence
About the City

Florence,
in the region of
Tuscany, is the main city
after which the province is named. It rises on the banks of the
Arno
in a vast plain surrounded by the Careggi, Fiesole, Settignano, Arcetri
and Bellosguardo hills. Divided into two parts by the river, the city
of Florence is home to some of the most outstanding art collections
in the world.

For
three centuries, Florence was the European centre of modern civilization
and paved the way for a cultural movement, which later became known
as the
Renaissance.

Florence
is the city where the Italian genius has flourished with the greatest
display of brilliance. The communion of great minds, with their varied
facets and fields of interest, found in Florence an ideal center for
their artistic and intellectual development. The city's artists, merchants,
able administrators and its princely patrons of the arts all contributed
to the creation of just the right conditions for nursing such an intellectual
and artistic community, which for centuries was to influence human creativity.
Its 600 years of extraordinary artistic creativity can be seen above
all in its 13th- century
Cathedral, the
Santa Maria del Fiore,
the
Santa Croce Church, the
Uffizi
Palace and the
Pitti Palace which
are the work of artists like Giotto, Brunelleschi, Botticelli and Michelangelo.

Ever
since the 19th century revival of interest in the art of the Renaissance,
Firenze has been a shrine to the cult of the beautiful. Instantly captivating,
the city attracts thousands of tourists each year.