Florence: History

History
You can’t tell Florence’s story without the Medici. The family built their fortune through banking starting in the 14th century, then spent generations pouring that wealth into artistic and architectural patronage — effectively bankrolling much of what we now call the high Renaissance.

Cosimo de’ Medici and later Lorenzo de’ Medici, known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, were the standout patrons — backing Botticelli, supporting a young Michelangelo, shaping Florentine politics for generations even while the city formally maintained republican institutions on paper.

Brunelleschi’s dome atop Florence Cathedral, finished in 1436, solved a problem that had stumped architects for over a century: how do you build a dome of that span without traditional wooden centering, given the cathedral’s walls were already too far apart to support it conventionally? His solution — an inner and outer shell, an interlocking herringbone brick pattern — is still studied by engineers today.

Florence’s art and architecture largely survived the 20th century’s wars intact, but the city took a real hit in 1966 when the Arno river flooded badly, damaging huge quantities of art and historical documents. The silver lining: that disaster pushed major advances in art conservation techniques that are still used internationally today.