Florence () is the capital city of the region of Tuscany (Toscana), in Italy. From 1865 to 1870 the city was also the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Florence is on the Arno River. The city has a population of around 370,000 people, and a suburban population of over 2,000,000 people. The greater area has around 956,000 people. The city was a center of medieval European trade and finance. It is often considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and was long ruled by the Medici family. Florence is also famous for its fine art and architecture. It is said that, of the 1,000 most important European artists of the second millennium, 350 lived or worked in Florence.

Buildings and monuments 
Bridges:
 Ponte Amerigo Vespucci
 Ponte Santa Trinita
 Ponte Vecchio
 Ponte alle Grazie

Museums:
 Institute and Museum of the History of Science
 La Specola
 Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze
 National Archaeological Museum

Palaces:
 Bargello
 Palazzo Davanzati
 Palazzo Fenzi
 Palazzo Medici Riccardi
 Palazzo Mozzi
 Palazzo Pitti
 Palazzo Rucellai
 Palazzo Spini Feroni
 Palazzo Strozzi
 Studiolo of Francesco I
 Uffizi
 Palazzo Vecchio

Churches:

Famous people born in Florence 
 Leone Battista Alberti, polymath.
 Dante Alighieri, poet.
 Filippo Brunelleschi, famous architect.
 Giotto di Bondone, early 14th century painter
 Michelangelo Buonarroti, a famous sculptor, also famous for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
 The Medici Family
 Girolamo Mei, historian and humanist
 Lorenzo Ghiberti, sculptor
 Donatello, sculptor
 Leonardo da Vinci, famous for his Mona Lisa and other paintings, inventions, and scientific experiments.
 Niccolò Machiavelli, famous Renaissance poet and philosopher
 Giorgio Vasari, painter, architect, and historian
 Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, astronomer, and philosopher.
 Oriana Fallaci, journalist and author
 Florence Nightingale, pioneer of modern nursing, and a noted statistician.
 Salvatore Ferragamo, Legendary "shoemaker to the stars"

Sister cities

Parks 
 Boboli's Garden: a historic park of Florence, joined with Pitti Palace and with Forte di Belvedere. The garden is visited every year by 800,000 tourists, it is famous for its flowers and for the very old sculptures.
 Bobolino's Garden: It is a public park in Florence,near "Porta Romana",the park gains the name by the most famous "Boboli's Garden",the Bobolino's Garden is smaller than the Boboli's Garden.
 Bardini's Garden: The garden is in the hills of south of the city,near the "Forte Belvedere", near the Boboli's Garden. By Piazzale Michelangelo the park is visible. In June 2007, the garden opened after a big work of re-building.
 Garden of Roses: a very nice park in the "Oltrarno" zone,near Piazzale Michelangelo,in "Giuseppe Poggi" Street.
 Garden of Iris: a green park in the east of Piazzale Michelangelo. It is open to tourists only in May.
 Park of Cascine: called friendly "Le Cascine". It is the biggest public garden in Florence.
 Garden of Semplici: the garden is a part of "Museum of history and nature of Florence University".
 Orti Oricellari: Orti Oricellari is a small monumental garden near Santa Maria Novella, The garden was owened by "Rucellai Family".

Sport 
The football team of Florence is the Fiorentina.

Cuisine 
The food of Florence is based more on peasant eating rather than expensive cooking. Most of foods are based on meat. The whole animal was usually eaten. Many kinds of tripe, (trippa) and (lampredotto) were commonly served. They are still sold at the food carts in the city. Antipasti include crostini toscani, sliced bread topped with a chicken liver-based pâté. Also common are sliced meats (mainly prosciutto and salami). They are often served with melon when it is in season. Tuscan bread has no salt or butter. It is used often in Florentine meals. It is very common in the local soups, ribollita and pappa al pomodoro, Both soups are usually served with local olive oil. The bread is also used in the salad of bread and fresh vegetables called panzanella that is served in summer. The most famous main course is the bistecca alla fiorentina. It is a huge steak of Chianina beef that is cooked over hot charcoal. It is served very rare with the tagliata, sliced rare beef served on a bed of arugula, often with slices of parmesan cheese on top.

Climate 

Florence has a mixed Mediterranean climate and humid subtropical climate, with hot and humid summers and cool and damp winters. Florence is especially hot from June to August (surrounded by hills in a valley cut by the Arno river). Summer temperatures are higher than those along coastlines. Winter has some snow.

Panorama

Images

Other websites

The Moscow Florentine Society

 
Regional capitals in Italy
World Heritage Sites in Italy