Since the Middle Ages, Florence counted on the textile industry by using its waters for washing and rinsing both raw and processed cloth. 30 thousand people were employed in the weaving industry in 1100.
It was a family of textile industrialists, the Rucellai, who commissioned Leon Battista Alberti the project and implementation of the magnificent namesake palace.

Many were the bridges that crossed the Arno before World War 2. The 1944 attack destroyed them all, except for Ponte Vecchio, the oldest in Florence, which crosses the river's narrowest spot. In the early half of '300 Florentines called it thus to distinguish it from Ponte Nuovo and Ponte della Carraia, when frequent floods required them to build it in stone.

The famous shops that line the bridge - today they are almost all magnificent jewellery shops - were already present in 1200. They first belonged to butchers and fishermen, then to tanners, who easily found water to soak hide for tanning.
In 1565 Cosme I appointed architect Giorgio Vasari to build a 1 km corridor, which can still be travelled from Palazzo Vecchio, the political and administrative centre, with Palazzo Pitti, the Medici's private residence.
A lay stand in the centre of the bridge holds the bust of Benvenuto Cellini, the most famous Renaissance jeweller in Florence. It was made in 1900. Another less famous but equally active figure in Florence was Tommaso del Ghirlandaio, father of the painter and jeweller Domenico del Ghirlandaio, thus called for having adorned the heads of Florentine damsels with silver garlands. Young Michelangelo trained in Domenico's workshop.

The centre of Florence, which always buzzes with tourists from the world over, combines lively daily life with the sublime eternal. In Piazza del Duomo, the heart of the city centre, take a seated at a table outdoors to be blinded by the beauty that embraces you on all sides.

The cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, is one of the most beautiful churches in Italy, a piece of marble embroidery. The first stone was laid in 1296 on the project of Arnolfo di Cambio. It is the fourth largest church in Europe. Florence also focused on dimensions to win its records.
Its famous dome, an engineering miracle that triumphs on both the square and intricate side streets, was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and backed by Alberti who, in the De Re Aedificatoria (1452) declared his intention with visionary pride: he wanted it to be “large enough to embrace all Tuscans under its shadow”. Hence, he won the call for tenders organised by the Elders of the city, but till then he found it a hard challenge. Few thought that such dimensions would stand the test of time. Works on the lantern at the top of the dome were stopped due to fear of his detractors. The cathedral can hold 30 thousand people, the ideal audience for Savonarola's darts. He was the famous Dominican monk who berated contemporary artists' libertine style in the very temple of art: he said that local painters depicted the Virgin as a prostitute.
The interior is very austere and sparsely adorned to allow the spaciousness and suggestive quality of titanic space and dimensions to prevail. But every detail is the work of the greatest masters of sculpture and pictorial art: Paolo Uccello produced the heads of prophets that decorate the Hour Globe; stain glass windows are by Lorenzo Ghiberti, the sculptor who later forged the eastern doors of the Baptistery.

The bell tower is remarkable. One of the best Italian medieval towers, it was designed by Giotto, the city's master mason, who applied the polychromatic style of Arnolfo di Cambio's project for the cathedral. Andrea Pisano, the sculptor of the Baptistery's northern doors, contributed towards the construction of the 85 m bell tower. Statues and bas-reliefs are by Donatello and Luca della Robbia.

Built in 1560 as an office complex for Grand Duke Cosme I, this building holds an extraordinary international collection of works of art, which are exhibited in 65 halls with a special area for Italian Renaissance. Florence's lay and generous purchasers enriched the artistic scene with settings that differed from the usual religious iconography, but at what price? We get an idea from the portrait of Cosme the Old, painted by Pontormo. Never was the effort required by power denounced physiognomically as in the contracted livid face and the deformed arthritic index finger that claws the other hand.

Before mentioning some of the world's most appreciated painters, we wish to mention a statue that made the British poet Byron say that he was “heady and blinded by its beauty”: it is the Medicean Venus, a Roman copy of a Greek original that was deemed one of the most erotic statues in the ancient world.

Amidst the amazing selection of artists, numbering Duccio, Boninsegna, Cimabue, Filippino Lippi, Parmigianino, Leonardo da Vinci, Giovanni Bellini, Masaccio and Pollaiolo, we wish to briefly linger on Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Spring, the unofficial but beloved world famous emblems of Florence. As in the Medicean statue, Venus attempts to cover her breast and pubis even in the Birth. A thick golden blonde mane of hair acts as a cloak, while a shell blown by Zephirus takes her to the coast, where a woman awaits her with a pink flowered cloak. The female protagonists have something in common in both works - very white skin that has a striking light of its own. You do not perceive the source but only that it expands eternally with neither shadows nor hesitation because light too moves in time, in a riot of mythological and philosophical allegories, that seem to depict the wisdom and knowledge of the classics as a joyful experience.

Marsilio Ficino, a philosopher dear to Cosme remarked that just as knowledge perfects the spirit, painting can at times be the spirit that perfects matter.

It is a spacious square in front of Palazzo Vecchio, the oldest urban monument for civil use in Florence. Once it hosted the Priori, the lords who ruled the city. Today it is the site of the Municipal Council, but many rooms are open to the public. A must see is the Hall of the 500 designed by Vasari, who also painted the 39 ceiling panels illustrating the Apotheosis of Cosme I. The wall in front of the entrance to the Hall holds Michelangelo's statue of Victory (Genius murdering Reason), which Cosme ordered to commemorate his victory on Siena. The Chancellery, Machiavelli's thinking room, is also interesting.

The square is bordered on the east by the namesake triple-arched loggia, which was built at the close of '300 to protect municipal officers from bad weather during public ceremonies. The Loggia prides in two famous sculptures: the Perseus by Cellini, which is deemed one of the most beautiful bronze works in Europe, and the Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna - artistically entangled hyperactive bodies obtained from the largest piece of marble that ever reached Florence.

Other statues are lined on the left of the square, in front of Palazzo Vecchio. The most emblematic one is Michelangelo's David, a copy of which is displayed here. The original of this adolescent warrior with a gaze that eternally challenges the enemy, the symbol of the defeat of tyranny (the Medici's tyranny) can be admired at the Academy of Fine Arts Gallery. It deserves a dual attitude: surrendering to Michelangelo's exuberant sense of human power and the captivating unique manual skills of the “genius-mason”, who, faced with a marble block, endowed it with palpitating life, and, recognising in David's face the irritable gentleness that restores him to the adolescence he was deprived of by myth.

The head office of the Hard Stone Factory Works (where visitors can at times see masters at work on restoring items) forms highly skilled restorers who are qualified to intervene on ivory, mother of pearl, tortoise shell, onyx, alabaster and horn items. Hours of work that require skill and patience to endow beautiful, antique precious items that are often fragile and small, like pendants and fans with a second life.

The Flea Market in piazza dei Ciompi offers a pleasant selection of superfluous but necessary items: antique furniture and items, paintings, period photos, 'modern' antiques, old collection books, jewellery (precious costume jewellery made in the ’30s and ’40s), period dolls, wood and tin toys… the most playful world for your quest for the past.

The Central Market in piazza del Mercato with its crowded stalls and kiosks is the city's main food dispatch. It is Europe's largest indoor market, the ideal place to find typical Tuscan delicacies and to enjoy a quick savoury snack.

The San Lorenzo market is, instead, a maze of alleys that wind their way around the namesake church. The secret lies in not getting lost, tasting the delicacies while strolling, coming upon tripe-sellers' carts and, discovering an extensive selection of handcrafted leather products, ranging from belts to shoes. The San Lorenzo district always hosts folklore events and shows for children. It is the site of jugglers and street artists.

The century old tradition of arts and crafts is still practiced and witnessed by the very name of certain streets: via dei Fibbiai, via degli Arazzieri and via degli Spadai. Many laboratories refer to via della Porcellana, in the Oltrarno district. Handmade marble paper and hand embroidered linen are more specialities of Florence.

Developed over the centuries, Florentine cuisine recalls tradition and snobs contemporary trends that fade very soon. Its typical feature is simple ingredients that have never been masterly processed.

First Courses
Bread is the basic ingredient in typical dishes. Listed below are a few examples.

Bread soup with stale Tuscan bread, black cabbage (an unfailing ingredient), carrots, celery, potatoes, savoy cabbage, beetroot, cannellini and borlotti beans, onions, extra virgin olive oil, garlic and pepper.
Panzanella, crumbled bread softened in water with vegetables and spices to please.
Pappa col pomodoro, which is mentioned in literature, in the book Gianburrasca.

Pasta-based first courses have no bread, but they are doubtless created for Dante's circle of the Greedy (i.e. Casseruola alla fiorentina, either normal or flat pasta seasoned with spinach sauce, mushroom cream and sausage enveloped in a mixture of egg and ricotta cheese). Eat warm. Excellent in spring.

Second Courses
Simplicity is the rule for second courses and, the steak reigns supreme.
But, only the fiorentina steak, which meets indisputable requisites: it must be of excellent soft beef with the bone that is at least 5 cm thick, grilled and bloody. An overcooked steak is pure heresy in Florence.

Slow patient cooking is, instead, the secret for the bollito [boiled meat] and tongue (beef), which are served cold with green sauce made of parsley, eggs and anchovy.

Bread is back on the scene with this typical recipe: chicken Florentine style - chicken breast topped with cream cheese, spinach, onion, celery, paprika, garlic and plenty of bread crumbs.

Sweets
The typical sweet is the schiacciata with grapes - sugar-sprinkled black grapes placed between two layers of pastry and sprayed with hot oil. Rosemary needles - ramerino, as it is called in Florence - enhance the top.

Round soft fritters are excellent with a good Vinsanto desert wine.

Cenci, fried pasta sprinkled with icing sugar.

A Divine Dive
In Tuscany wine is the focus of passion, excellent quality and the Wine Route along the Etruscan Coastline - acclaimed throughout Europe.
Dive into the wine list - choice is the only problem: Chianti, Chianti classico, Dogajolo (winy but fruity, with a cherry bouquet), Brunello di Montalcino, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Pomino… Are you finding it hard to decide? Think it over with a drink and, be open to advice. The restaurateurs are very hospitable.