Learn About Florence, Its History And Society

Ancient History of Florence

Julius Caesar originally designated Florence in 59 BC as a place for his veteran soldiers. Florentia’s name derives from “flourish” because it was a very fertile land covered in flowers.

Thanks to the Via Cassia, the important road that connected Rome with the North and throughout the Arno’s fertile valley, Florence became a thriving trade center.

In the third century AD, the city became the capital of an area called Tuscia. Charlemagne conquered Florentia in 774, annexed it to his existing Tuscan territories, and named Lucca the capital of this entire Tuscan area.

Commerce grew over the centuries in Florence and Fiesole, a neighboring hill-top town, until the 2 towns were united in the middle of ninth century AD.

The Medici Family and Their Role in Florence

In the middle of the fourteenth century, the Medici Family began ruling the city from trade and commerce to forge beneficial political alliances.

The Medici were bankers and merchants with the Popes and thus increased the family’s prominence and power.

Florence gained so much power during this period that this ruling family invested vast wealth on the arts’ patronage, leading to Florence being considered the place of birth of the Italian Renaissance.

In particular, Lorenzo di Medici, who became known as Lorenzo the Magnificent,  was a great patron of the arts who commissioned works by:

• Leonardo Da Vinci
• Michelangelo (1475-1564)
• Botticelli (1445-1510) as well as many other great artists

Parola Italian language school capitalizes on its location by organizing field trips, extracurricular activities, and relevant supplementary courses such as our drawing course or art courses to take advantage of Florence’s rich cultural surroundings.

Our school also conducts visits to the Uffizi Gallery, where some of these outstanding artworks by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Botticelli, and others are displayed. Parola arranges visits to the beautiful Museum of the “Opera del Duomo” as well.

Fra’ Girolamo Savonarola (1502-1498)

Fra’ Girolamo Savonarola was another famous figure in the great history of Florence became famous for his sermons in which he harshly criticized the morality of contemporary times.

After denouncing the Pope, the Florentines grew tired of his severe criticisms. Consequently, Savonarola was declared a heretic and burned at stake in the “Piazza Della Signoria” in 1498.

In our “History of Florence” course included in the supplementary list of courses, we study the events that led to the accusations against Savonarola and students learn why he originally became popular and then subsequently fell out of favor in Florence.

Machiavelli (1469-1527)

Machiavelli was a very relevant figure of the golden years of Florence. Niccolò Machiavelli’s inscriptions were a sort of rebirth of Florence during those years, prescribing strong power and, when necessary, the application of the rule in politics that “the ends justify the means” which gave authority to the ruler for any strong action as long as it provided the desired outcome.

In the outstanding book “Il Principe” Machiavelli’s thoughts are written, and students at Parola school can read it. 

In our course, “Renaissance Florence,” we discuss “The Prince” (Il Principe), still a benchmark for today’s political issues all over the world.

Machiavelli also wrote a book called “the Florentine Histories,” which is an important Florence history.