History of Florence

The site occupied during the Etruscan period was Fiesole, better situated on high ground than on the banks of the Arno.
Caesar is said to have created the colony Florentina in order to give land to the veterans of his armies. The city developed rapidly thanks to trade made easier by its river port and its position on the Via Cassia Nova.
At the fall of the Roman Empire, Tuscany passes into the hands of the Goths, the Byzantines, the Lombards and the Franks of Charlemagne. He confirmed the pseudo-Donation of Constantine, giving the whole of the former western Roman empire to the Popes.

The Holy Roman Empire succeeds the Carolingians, and Florence becomes the residence of the margraves governing the region in the name of the empire, but with greatly weakened ties. Countess Matilda, granddaughter of Frederick II, bequeaths her domains to the papacy, which the laws of the empire forbade. The struggle between the supporters of the Emperor (Ghibellines) and of the Popes (Guelphs) allowed autonomous city-states to emerge in the region. Florence had to wait for the death of Countess Matilda to establish itself as an independent commune, but after bloody struggles between Ghibellines and Guelphs, then between White Guelphs and Black Guelphs. The latter, separating temporal power from spiritual power, prevailed. The merchants, grouped in guilds (Arts), direct the city, which enjoys extraordinary prosperity thanks to the trade in wool and dyes. Banking gradually replaces the textile industry, and the gold florin becomes the principal currency of the Middle Ages in Europe.
Florence inaugurates an original system of government run by the Major Arts (7) and the Minor Arts (14). But power gradually concentrates within the same families. Popular discontent brings the Medici and their leader Cosimo the Elder to power in 1434. He was skillful enough to govern as he pleased while preserving the appearances of the republic. He was an enlightened patron, building many public buildings. His son Piero the Gouty is succeeded by Lorenzo, called the Magnificent. Abandoning banking, the latter becomes the true lord of Florence. After the bloody Pazzi conspiracy, he governed a city at its zenith until his death in 1492. In 1494, his son Piero II the Unfortunate abandoned Florence to Charles VIII of France. The theocratic government of Savonarola, an exalted monk and a relentless enemy of the arts, did not withstand the intrigues of the papacy. Popes Leo X, then Clement VII (of the Medici), governed the city unofficially, delegating members of the family to enforce their orders. Taking advantage of the Sack of Rome by the Imperial troops, the Florentines drove out the Pope's representative in order to found a republic again. But the reconciliation between Clement VII and Charles V brought the Medici back to Florence in 1531 with the title of duke. The first duke, Alessandro de' Medici, who led a life of debauchery, was assassinated by his cousin Lorenzino (reread Musset's play). Cosimo I, from another branch of the Medici family, was called to power by the Florentine oligarchy, which found in him a master it had not expected. He strengthened the economic and military power of the duchy.

His son Francesco, who died without a male heir, is succeeded by his brother Ferdinando I, often cited as the last of the Medici. His successors announced the decline of the dynasty, and on the death of Gian Gastone the great powers gave the duchy to Francis II of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The grand duchy knew a new era of prosperity, but government was carried on in Vienna. After the Napoleonic episode the Lorraines returned to Florence. Leopold II had to abdicate in 1859, and Ferdinand IV, the last sovereign duke, was stripped of his title in 1860 when Tuscany was joined to the Kingdom of Italy. Florence became its capital from 1865 to 1871.

In the 19th century, Florence charmed foreign visitors who were making what was called “the Grand Tour”, but lived essentially on its artistic reputation.
After the Second World War, in which it narrowly escaped destruction, tourism, the mechanical industries, banking and insurance services, fashion and textiles allowed a new rise of the city.