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Located in the valley of the Arno river which flows under its magnificent bridges and between the lovely palaces looking onto its banks, is universally recognized as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, the seat of masterpieces of every kind. Even in Florence and in its surroundings we find traces of the Etruscan and Roman civilizations, but the main historical features were set during the Late and (most of all) Early Middle Ages. Walking down the streets and the squares of the city centre feels like going back in time. Still today the Guelfi and the Ghibellini families are used to indicate two factions fiercely fighting against each other.
This is in fact what used to happen in the first centuries of the second millenium when Florence (the capital of the Marquisate of Tuscany) lived through internal wars between the Ghi-bellinis, who were in favour of the Emperor, and the Guelfis, who were the representatives of the important tradesman and artisan association in favour of the coming of Florence under the Pope. These fratricide battles have been described by Dante Alighieri, the great poet who lived in those dark years. In spite of these terrible conflicts, the arts flourished and during the 13 th and the 14th century Florence, which had by then expanded its dominion even over Arezzo, Pistoia and Siena, was the
cradle for artists such as the above mentioned Dante, Cimabue and his pupil Giotto, and later Petrarca and Boccaccio. Towards the end of the 14th century, after the riot of the Ciompi (i.e. Florentine wool-carder) in which the people uprised against the dominant class ol the Magnati, the Seignory of the Medicis started: they governed Florence and other towns for almost three centuries, leaving indelible traces of their political, artistic and cultural far-sightedness.
During the 15 th century the Seignory of the Medicis reached its highest splendour with Lorenzo the Magnificent who brought artists such as Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Beato Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Donatello and others to his court to lay the bases of Renaissance, which reached its peak with Leonardo and Michelangelo. The Seignory of the Medicis finished in 1737, so Florence came under the rule of the Grand Dukes of Lorena until 1865, when it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy and became its Capital in 1871.
All the above mentioned artists have left traces of their Works in the fields of painting, sculpture and architecture, which still today make Florence a world-known centre of culture and the destination of an elite tourism which comes to admire the incomparable works kept in the squares, streets, churches, museums and theatres of this wonderful town.
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