Editing Florence (section)

== Culture ==
=== Art ===
{{Main|Florentine painting|Florentine Renaissance art|Italian Renaissance sculpture}}
{{See also|Guilds of Florence}}
[[File:El nacimiento de Venus, por Sandro Botticelli.jpg|thumb|[[Botticelli]]'s ''[[The Birth of Venus|Birth of Venus]]'', [[Uffizi]]]]
Florence was the birthplace of High Renaissance art, which lasted from about 1500 to 1527. Renaissance art put a larger emphasis on naturalism and human emotion.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |title=The Western Heritage |last=Kagan |first=Donald |publisher=Pearson |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-205-39392-3 |pages=296}}</ref> [[Medieval art]] was often formulaic and symbolic; the surviving works are mostly religious, their subjects were chosen by clerics. By contrast, Renaissance art became more rational, mathematical, individualistic,<ref name=":02" /> and was produced by known artists such as [[Donatello]], [[Michelangelo]], and [[Raphael]], who started to sign their works. Religion was important, but with this new age came the humanization<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |title=Art Through the Ages |last=Kleiner |first=Fred |publisher=Clark Baxtor |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-495-91542-3 |location=Boston |pages=417, 421}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite web |url=https://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity&#124;video_work&#124;2361487 |title=The Power of the Past with Bill Moyers: Florence |date=1990}}</ref> of religious figures in art, such as in [[Masaccio]]'s ''[[Expulsion from the Garden of Eden]]'' and Raphael's ''[[Madonna della Seggiola]]''; people of this age began to understand themselves as human beings, which reflected in art.<ref name=":22" /> The Renaissance marked the rebirth of classical values in art and society as people studied the ancient masters of the Greco-Roman world;<ref name=":12" /> art became focused on realism as opposed to idealism.<ref name=":22" />

[[File:Firenze, loggia dei lanzi (2020) 03.jpg|thumb|The [[Loggia dei Lanzi]] displays sculptures]]
[[File:'David' by Michelangelo JBU05.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Michelangelo]]'s ''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]]'']]

[[Cimabue]] and [[Giotto]], the fathers of Italian painting, lived in Florence, as did [[Arnolfo di Cambio]] and [[Andrea Pisano]], renewers of architecture and sculpture; [[Filippo Brunelleschi]], [[Donatello]] and Masaccio, forefathers of the Renaissance, [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]] and the [[Della Robbia]] family, [[Filippo Lippi]] and [[Fra Angelico]]; [[Sandro Botticelli]], [[Paolo Uccello]] and the universal genius of [[Leonardo da Vinci]] and Michelangelo.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.learner.org/interactives/renaissance/florence_sub2.html |title=Art in Florence |publisher=learner.org |access-date=27 September 2010 |archive-date=25 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025041411/http://www.learner.org/interactives/renaissance/florence_sub2.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://library.thinkquest.org/2838/artgal.htm |title=Renaissance Artists |publisher=library.thinkquest.org |access-date=28 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124033248/http://library.thinkquest.org/2838/artgal.htm |archive-date=24 November 2010}}</ref>

Their works, together with those of many other generations of artists, are gathered in [[Museums of Florence|the city's many museums]]: the [[Uffizi Gallery]], the [[Galleria Palatina]] with the paintings of the "Golden Ages",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi/ |title=Uffizi Gallery Florence • Uffizi Museum • Ticket Reservation |publisher=Virtualuffizi.com |access-date=5 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218221745/http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi/ |archive-date=18 February 2009}}</ref> the [[Bargello]] with the sculptures of the Renaissance, the [[Museo Nazionale di San Marco|museum of San Marco]] with [[Fra Angelico]]'s works, the [[Galleria dell'Accademia]], the [[Medici Chapels]],<ref>[http://www.florentine-society.ru/Medici_Chapel_Mysteries.htm Peter Barenboim, Sergey Shiyan, ''Michelangelo: Mysteries of Medici Chapel'', SLOVO, Moscow, 2006]. {{ISBN|5-85050-825-2}}</ref> the museum of [[Orsanmichele]], the [[Casa Buonarroti]] with sculptures by Michelangelo, the [[Museo Bardini]], the [[Museo Horne]], the [[Museo Stibbert]], the [[Palazzo Corsini, Florence|Palazzo Corsini]], the [[Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Florence|Galleria d'Arte Moderna]], the [[Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Florence)|Museo dell'Opera del Duomo]], the [[Tesoro dei Granduchi]] and the [[Museo dell'Opificio delle Pietre Dure]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.italyguides.it/us/florence/palace_of_bargello.htm |title=Palace of Bargello (Bargello's Palace), Florence Italy |publisher=ItalyGuides.it |date=28 October 2006 |access-date=5 May 2009}}</ref> Several monuments are located in Florence: the [[Florence Baptistery|Baptistery]] with [[Mosaic ceiling of the Florence Baptistery|its mosaics]]; the cathedral with its sculptures, the medieval churches with bands of frescoes; public as well as private palaces – the [[Palazzo Vecchio]], the Palazzo Pitti, the [[Palazzo Medici Riccardi]], the [[Palazzo Davanzati]] and the [[Casa Martelli]]; monasteries, cloisters, refectories; the [[Florence Charterhouse|Certosa]]. The [[National Archaeological Museum, Florence|Museo Archeologico Nazionale]] documents [[Etruscan civilization]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.italyguides.it/us/florence/pitti_palace.htm |title=Inner court of Pitti Palace (Palazzo Pitti), Florence Italy |publisher=ItalyGuides.it |date=28 October 2006 |access-date=5 May 2009}}</ref> The city is so rich in art that some visitors experience [[Stendhal syndrome]] as they encounter its art for the first time.<ref name="ncjqkw">{{cite web |url=http://www.auxologia.com/index3.html |title=Auxologia: Graziella Magherini: La Sindrome di Stendhal (book) |access-date=12 October 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061012105458/http://www.auxologia.com/index3.html |archive-date=12 October 2006}} (excerpts in Italian)</ref>

[[File:Uffizi Hallway.jpg|thumb|The [[Uffizi|Uffizi Gallery]] is the 10th most visited art museum in the world.]]

Florentine architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1466) and [[Leon Battista Alberti]] (1404–1472) were among the fathers of Renaissance architecture.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.studymode.com/essays/Why-Was-Florence-Considered-Important-For-74009.html |title=Why Was Florence Considered Important For Culture And Arts? – Essay – Michellekim |publisher=StudyMode.com |access-date=14 March 2010}}</ref> The cathedral, topped by Brunelleschi's dome, dominates the Florentine skyline. The Florentines decided to start building it late in the 13th century, without a design for the dome. The project proposed by Brunelleschi in the 14th century was the largest ever built at the time, and the first major dome built in Europe since the two great domes of Roman times – the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] in Rome, and [[Hagia Sophia]] in [[Constantinople]]. The dome of Santa Maria del Fiore remains the largest brick construction of its kind in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tripleman.com/index.php?showimage=737 |title=The Duomo of Florence &#124; Tripleman |publisher=tripleman.com |access-date=25 March 2010 |archive-date=6 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091206202243/http://www.tripleman.com/index.php?showimage=737 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brunelleschisdome.com/ |title=brunelleschi's dome – Brunelleschi's Dome |publisher=Brunelleschisdome.com |access-date=25 March 2010}}</ref> In front of it is the medieval Baptistery. The two buildings incorporate in their decoration the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. In recent years, most of the important works of art from the two buildings – and from the nearby [[Giotto's Campanile]], have been removed and replaced by copies. The originals are now housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, just to the east of the cathedral.

Florence has a large number of art-filled churches, such as [[San Miniato al Monte]], [[San Lorenzo, Florence|San Lorenzo]], [[Santa Maria Novella]], [[Santa Trinita]], [[Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence|Santa Maria del Carmine]], [[Santa Croce, Florence|Santa Croce]], [[Santo Spirito, Florence|Santo Spirito]], [[Santissima Annunziata, Florence|Santissima Annunziata]], [[Ognissanti, Florence|Ognissanti]] and numerous others.<ref name="britannica.com"/>
	
[[File:Firenze.PalVecchio05.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Palazzo Vecchio]]]]
	
Artists associated with Florence range from [[Arnolfo di Cambio]] and [[Cimabue]] to [[Giotto]], [[Nanni di Banco]], and [[Paolo Uccello]]; through [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]], and [[Donatello]] and [[Masaccio]] and the [[della Robbia]] family; through [[Fra Angelico]] and [[Sandro Botticelli]] and [[Piero della Francesca]], and on to [[Leonardo da Vinci]] and [[Michelangelo]]. Others include [[Benvenuto Cellini]], [[Andrea del Sarto]], [[Benozzo Gozzoli]], [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]], [[Filippo Lippi]], [[Bernardo Buontalenti]], [[Orcagna]], [[Antonio del Pollaiuolo|Antonio]] and [[Piero del Pollaiuolo]], [[Filippino Lippi]], [[Andrea del Verrocchio]], [[Bronzino]], [[Desiderio da Settignano]], [[Michelozzo]], [[Cosimo Rosselli]], the Sangallos, and [[Pontormo]]. Artists from other regions who worked in Florence include [[Raphael]], [[Andrea Pisano]], [[Giambologna]], [[Il Sodoma]] and [[Peter Paul Rubens]].
	
[[File:Dome of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence).jpg|thumb|Brunelleschi's dome]]
	
Picture galleries in Florence include the [[Uffizi]] and the [[Palazzo Pitti]]. Two superb collections of sculpture are in the [[Bargello]] and the [[Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Florence)|Museo dell'Opera del Duomo]]. They are filled with the creations of Donatello, Verrocchio, Desiderio da Settignano, Michelangelo and others. The [[Galleria dell'Accademia]] has Michelangelo's ''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]]'', which was created between 1501 and 1504 and is perhaps the best-known work of art anywhere, plus the unfinished statues of slaves Michelangelo created for the [[tomb of Pope Julius II]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.europe.travelonline.com/italy/region_florence.html |title=Florence, Tuscany Region, Italy – The Duomo, Statue of David, Piazza Dell Signoria |publisher=Europe.travelonline.com |access-date=25 March 2010 |archive-date=13 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713072107/http://www.europe.travelonline.com/italy/region_florence.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.florence.world-guides.com/art_galleries.html |title=Florence Art Gallery: Art Galleries and Museums in Florence Area, Italy |publisher=Florence.world-guides.com |access-date=25 March 2010}}</ref> Other sights include the medieval city hall, the Palazzo della Signoria (also known as the [[Palazzo Vecchio]]), the [[National Archaeological Museum, Florence|National Archeological Museum]], the [[Museo Galileo]], the [[Palazzo Davanzati]], the [[Museo Stibbert]], the [[Museo Nazionale di San Marco]], the [[Medici Chapels]], the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Croce, the Museum of the Cloister of Santa Maria Novella, the Zoological Museum ("[[La Specola]]"), the [[Museo Bardini]], and the [[Museo Horne]]. There is also a collection of works by the modern sculptor, [[Marino Marini (sculptor)|Marino Marini]], in [[Marino Marini Museum|a museum named after him]]. The [[Palazzo Strozzi]] is the site of special exhibitions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.palazzostrozzi.org/Sezione.jsp?idSezione=181 |title=Become a friend of Palazzo Strozzi – Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi – Firenze |publisher=Palazzostrozzi.org |access-date=25 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727162807/http://www.palazzostrozzi.org/Sezione.jsp?idSezione=181 |archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref>

=== Language ===
{{Main|Florentine dialect}}
{{See also|Tuscan language}}

Florentine (''fiorentino''), spoken by inhabitants of Florence and its environs, is a [[Tuscan Language|Tuscan dialect]] and the immediate [[Proto-language|parent language]] to modern Italian.

Although its vocabulary and pronunciation are largely identical to standard Italian, differences do exist. The ''Vocabolario del fiorentino contemporaneo'' (Dictionary of Modern Florentine) reveals [[Lexicon (linguistics)|lexical]] distinctions from all walks of life.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vocabolariofiorentino.it/contenuti/introduzione |title=Vocabolario del fiorentino contemporaneo |trans-title=Dictionary of Contemporary Florentine |publisher=Accademia della Crusca |language=it |access-date=15 October 2019}}</ref>

Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio pioneered the use of the vernacular<ref name="florenceholidays.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.florenceholidays.com/florence-vacation-literature-in-florence.html |title=Literature in Florence, Florentine Writers and Poets |publisher=Florenceholidays.com |access-date=25 March 2010}}</ref> instead of the Latin used for most literary works at the time.

=== Literature ===
[[File:Decamaron intro.jpg|thumb|The introduction of the ''Decameron'' (1350–1353) by [[Giovanni Boccaccio]]]]
Despite Latin being the main language of the courts and the Church in the Middle Ages, writers such as Dante Alighieri<ref name="florenceholidays.com"/> and many others used their own language, the Florentine vernacular descended from Latin, in composing their greatest works. The oldest literary pieces written in Florentine go as far back as the 13th century. Florence's literature fully blossomed in the 14th century, when not only Dante with his ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' (1306–1321) and Petrarch, but also poets such as [[Guido Cavalcanti]] and [[Lapo Gianni]] composed their most important works.<ref name="florenceholidays.com"/> Dante's masterpiece is the ''Divine Comedy'', which mainly deals with the poet himself taking an allegoric and moral tour of Hell, Purgatory and finally Heaven, during which he meets numerous mythological or real characters of his age or before. He is first guided by the Roman poet [[Virgil]], whose non-Christian beliefs damned him to Hell. Later on he is joined by [[Divine Comedy|Beatrice]], who guides him through Heaven.<ref name="florenceholidays.com"/>

In the 14th century, [[Petrarch]]<ref name="florenceholidays">{{cite web |url=http://www.florenceholidays.com/florence-vacation-literature-in-florence-petrarch-boccaccio.html |title=Literature in Florence – Petrarch and Boccaccio, Florentine Writers and Poet: Petrarch and Boccaccio |publisher=Florenceholidays.com |access-date=25 March 2010}}</ref> and [[Giovanni Boccaccio]]<ref name="florenceholidays"/> led the literary scene in Florence after Dante's death in 1321. Petrarch was an all-rounder writer, author and poet, but was particularly known for his ''[[Il Canzoniere|Canzoniere]]'', or the Book of Songs, where he conveyed his unremitting love for Laura.<ref name="florenceholidays"/> His style of writing has since become known as ''Petrarchism''.<ref name="florenceholidays"/> Boccaccio was better known for his ''[[The Decameron|Decameron]]'', a slightly grim story of Florence during the 1350s bubonic plague, known as the [[Black Death]], when some people fled the ravaged city to an isolated country mansion, and spent their time there recounting stories and novellas taken from the medieval and contemporary tradition. All of this is written in a series of 100 distinct novellas.<ref name="florenceholidays"/>

In the 16th century, during the Renaissance, Florence was the home town of political writer and philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, whose ideas on how rulers should govern the land, detailed in ''The Prince'', spread across European courts and enjoyed enduring popularity for centuries. These principles became known as ''Machiavellianism''.

=== Music ===
{{Main|Music of Florence}}
{{See also|Music of Tuscany}}
[[File:Teatro della Pergola, Firenze 1.JPG|thumb|The Teatro della Pergola]]
Florence became a musical centre during the Middle Ages and music and the performing arts remain an important part of its culture. The growth of Northern Italian Cities in the 1500s likely contributed to its increased prominence. During the Renaissance, there were four kinds of musical patronage in the city with respect to both sacred and secular music: state, corporate, church, and private. It was here that the [[Florentine Camerata]] convened in the mid-16th century and experimented with setting tales of Greek mythology to music and staging the result—in other words, the first operas, setting the wheels in motion not just for the further development of the operatic form, but for later developments of separate "classical" forms such as the symphony and concerto. After the year 1600, Italian trends prevailed across Europe, by 1750 it was the primary musical language. The genre of the [[Madrigal]], born in Italy, gained popularity in Britain and elsewhere. Several Italian cities were "larger on the musical map than their real-size for power suggested. Florence, was once such city which experienced a fantastic period in the early seventeenth Century of musico-theatrical innovation, including the beginning and flourishing of opera.<ref name="Hanning, Barbara Russano 2010. pg. 182">Hanning, Barbara Russano, J. Peter Burkholder, Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. Concise History of Western Music. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. pg. 182.</ref>

Opera was invented in Florence in the late 16th century when [[Jacopo Peri]]'s ''[[Dafne]]'' an opera in the style of [[monody]], was premiered. Opera spread from Florence throughout Italy and eventually Europe. Vocal Music in the choir setting was also taking new identity at this time. At the beginning of the 17th century, two practices for writing music were devised, one the first practice or ''[[Prima pratica|Stile Antico]]/Prima Prattica'' the other the ''[[Stile Moderno]]/Seconda Prattica''. The Stile Antico was more prevalent in Northern Europe and Stile Moderno was practiced more by the Italian Composers of the time.<ref>Grout, Donald Jay, Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1973.</ref> The piano was invented in Florence in 1709 by Bartolomeo Cristofori. Composers and musicians who have lived in Florence include Piero Strozzi (1550 – after 1608), Giulio Caccini (1551–1618) and Mike Francis (1961–2009). Giulio Caccini's book ''Le Nuove Musiche'' was significant in performance practice technique instruction at the time.<ref name="Hanning, Barbara Russano 2010. pg. 182"/> The book specified a new term, in use by the 1630s, called [[monody]] which indicated the combination of voice and [[basso continuo]] and connoted a practice of stating text in a free, lyrical, yet speech-like manner. This would occur while an instrument, usually a keyboard type such as [[harpsichord]], played and held chords while the singer sang/spoke the monodic line.<ref>Bonds, Mark E., Etd. Kassell, Richard (2010). A History of Music in Western Culture. Combined Volume. 3rd edition. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. {{ISBN|978-0-205-64531-2}}.</ref>

=== Cinema ===
Florence has been a setting for numerous works of fiction and movies, including the novels and associated films, such as ''[[The Light in the Piazza (novel)|Light in the Piazza]]'', ''[[The Girl Who Couldn't Say No]]'', ''[[Calmi Cuori Appassionati]]'', ''[[Hannibal (2001 film)|Hannibal]]'', ''[[A Room with a View (1986 film)|A Room with a View]]'', ''[[Tea with Mussolini]]'', ''[[Virgin Territory]]'' and ''[[Inferno (2016 film)|Inferno]]''. The city is home to renowned Italian actors and actresses, such as [[Roberto Benigni]], [[Leonardo Pieraccioni]] and [[Vittoria Puccini]].

=== Video games ===
Florence has appeared as a location in video games such as ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://bachtrack.com/article-film-music-assassins-creed-kyd |title=Assassin's Creed II – The magic of the Renaissance in a video game |last=Ponce |first=Javier |date=1 May 2017 |website=Bachtrack |access-date=20 August 2019}}</ref> The [[Republic of Florence]] also appears as a playable nation in [[Paradox Interactive]]'s [[Grand strategy wargame|grand strategy]] game ''[[Europa Universalis IV]]''.

=== Other media ===
16th century Florence is the setting of the Japanese [[manga]] and [[anime]] series [[Arte (manga)|''Arte'']].

=== Cuisine ===
[[File:Bistecca alla fiorentina-01.jpg|thumb|Florentine steak in Florence]]
Florentine food grows out of a tradition of peasant fare rather than rarefied high cuisine. The majority of dishes are based on meat. The whole animal was traditionally eaten; [[tripe]] (''trippa'') and stomach (''[[lampredotto]]'') were once regularly on the menu at restaurants and still are sold at the food carts stationed throughout the city. [[Antipasto|Antipasti]] include ''crostini toscani'', sliced bread rounds topped with a chicken liver-based [[pâté]], and sliced meats (mainly [[prosciutto]] and [[salame]], often served with melon when in season). The typically saltless Tuscan bread, obtained with natural [[levain]] frequently features in Florentine courses, especially in its soups, ''[[ribollita]]'' and ''[[pappa al pomodoro]]'', or in the salad of bread and fresh vegetables called ''[[panzanella]]'' that is served in summer. The ''[[bistecca alla fiorentina]]'' is a large (the customary size should weigh around {{convert|1.2|to|1.5|kg|lboz|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}) – the "date" steak – [[T-bone steak]] of [[Chianina]] beef cooked over hot charcoal and served very rare with its more recently derived version, the ''tagliata'', sliced rare beef served on a bed of [[Eruca sativa|arugula]], often with slices of [[Parmigiano-Reggiano|Parmesan cheese]] on top. Most of these courses are generally served with local [[olive oil]], also a prime product enjoying a worldwide reputation.<ref>{{cite web |author=welcometuscany.it |url=http://www.welcometuscany.it/special_interest/wine_food_olive_oil/olive_oil.htm |title=Tuscany italy tuscany tourists guide, travel tips extra virgin olive oil wines and foods of the most beautiful land in the world |publisher=welcometuscany.it |access-date=5 May 2009 |archive-date=15 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515191448/https://www.welcometuscany.it/special_interest/wine_food_olive_oil/olive_oil.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />Among the desserts, ''schiacciata alla fiorentina'', a white flatbread cake, is one of the most popular; it is a very soft cake, prepared with extremely simple ingredients, typical of Florentine cuisine, and is especially eaten at [[Carnival]].

=== Research activity ===
[[File:UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ospedale degli Innocenti|UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre]]]]
Research institutes and university departments are located within the Florence area and within two campuses at Polo di Novoli and Polo Scientifico di Sesto Fiorentino<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.polosci.unifi.it/mdswitch.html |title=Polo Scientifico di Sesto Fiorentino |publisher=Polosci.unifi.it |access-date=18 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318151234/http://www.polosci.unifi.it/mdswitch.html |archive-date=18 March 2014}}</ref> as well as in the Research Area of [[Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.area.fi.cnr.it/english/ |title=Florence CNR Research Area |publisher=Area.fi.cnr.it |access-date=18 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140807030127/http://www.area.fi.cnr.it/english/ |archive-date=7 August 2014}}</ref>

=== Science and discovery ===
[[File:Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze - paleontology.JPG|thumb|A display of [[proboscidean]]s in the [[Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze]], or the Natural History Museum of Florence]]
Florence has been an important scientific centre for centuries, notably during the Renaissance with scientists such as Leonardo da Vinci.

Florentines were one of the driving forces behind the [[Age of Discovery]]. Florentine bankers financed Henry the Navigator and the Portuguese explorers who pioneered the route around Africa to India and the Far East. It was a map drawn by the Florentine [[Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli]], a student of Brunelleschi, that [[Christopher Columbus]] used to sell his "enterprise" to the Spanish monarchs, and which he used on his first voyage. Mercator's "Projection" is a refined version of Toscanelli's, taking the Americas into account.

[[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] and other scientists pioneered the study of optics, ballistics, astronomy, anatomy, and other scientific disciplines. Pico della Mirandola, Leonardo Bruni, Machiavelli, and many others laid the groundwork for modern scientific understanding.

=== Fashion ===
{{Main|Italian fashion}}
{{See also|Fashion designers of Florence|Polimoda}}
[[File:Via de Tornabuoni 07.JPG|thumb|Luxury boutiques along Florence's prestigious Via de' Tornabuoni]]

By the year 1300 Florence had become a centre of textile production in Europe. Many of the rich families in Renaissance Florence were major purchasers of locally produced fine clothing, and the specialists of fashion in the economy and culture of Florence during that period is often underestimated.<ref>Frick, Carole Collier. ''Dressing Renaissance Florence: Families, Fortunes, and Fine Clothing''. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.</ref> Florence is regarded by some as the birthplace and earliest centre of the modern (post World War Two) fashion industry in Italy. The Florentine "soirées" of the early 1950s organised by Giovanni Battista Giorgini were events where several Italian designers participated in group shows and first garnered international attention.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gbgiorgini.it/italianfashion.htm |title=The birth of italian fashion |publisher=Gbgiorgini.it |access-date=7 May 2017 |archive-date=11 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711185711/http://www.gbgiorgini.it/italianfashion.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> Florence has served as the home of the Italian fashion company [[Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.p.A.|Salvatore Ferragamo]] since 1928. [[Gucci]], [[Roberto Cavalli]], and [[Emilio Pucci]] are also headquartered in Florence. Other major players in the fashion industry such as [[Prada]] and [[Chanel]] have large offices and stores in Florence or its outskirts. Florence's main upscale shopping street is [[Via de' Tornabuoni]], where major luxury fashion houses and jewellery labels, such as [[Armani]] and [[Bulgari]], have boutiques. Via del Parione and Via Roma are other streets that are also well known for their high-end fashion stores.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cntraveller.com/guides/europe/italy/florence/where-to-shop |title=Conde Nast Traveller's guide to shopping in Florence |date=11 November 2009 |publisher=Cntraveller.com |access-date=9 October 2013 |archive-date=8 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908184516/http://www.cntraveller.com/guides/europe/italy/florence/where-to-shop |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Historical evocations ===
==== ''Scoppio del Carro'' ====
The ''[[Scoppio del Carro]]'' ("Explosion of the Cart") is a celebration of the [[First Crusade]]. During the day of Easter, a cart, which the Florentines call the ''Brindellone'' and which is led by four white oxen, is taken to the [[Piazza del Duomo, Florence|Piazza del Duomo]] between the Baptistery of [[John the Baptist|St. John the Baptist]] (''Battistero di San Giovanni'') and the [[Florence Cathedral]] (''Santa Maria del Fiore''). The cart is connected by a rope to the interior of the church. Near the cart there is a model of a dove, which, according to legend, is a symbol of good luck for the city: at the end of the Easter mass, the dove emerges from the nave of the Duomo and ignites the fireworks on the cart.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rome |first=Wanted in |date=2024-03-26 |title=Scoppio del Carro: Florence's explosive Easter tradition |url=https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/scoppio-del-carro-florences-explosive-easter-tradition.html |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=Wanted in Rome |language=en}}</ref>

==== ''Calcio Storico'' ====
{{See also|Calcio Fiorentino}}
[[File:Calcio Storico Corteo.jpg|thumb|Calcio Storico]]

''Calcio Storico Fiorentino'' ("Historic Florentine [[Association football|Football]]"), sometimes called ''Calcio in costume'', is a traditional sport, regarded as a forerunner of soccer, though the actual gameplay most closely resembles rugby. The event originates from the [[Middle Ages]], when the most important Florentine nobles amused themselves playing while wearing bright costumes. The most important match was played on 17 February 1530, during the [[Siege of Florence (1529–1530)|siege of Florence]]. That day [[Papal States|Papal troops]] besieged the city while the Florentines, with contempt of the enemies, decided to play the game notwithstanding the situation. The game is played in the Piazza di [[Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence|Santa Croce]]. A temporary arena is constructed, with bleachers and a sand-covered playing field. A series of matches are held between four teams representing each {{lang|it|quartiere}} (quarter) of Florence during late June and early July.<ref>[http://www.calciostorico.it/ Calcio Storico Fiorentino (Official site)] {{in lang|it}}</ref> There are four teams: Azzurri (light blue), Bianchi (white), Rossi (red) and Verdi (green). The Azzurri are from the quarter of Santa Croce, Bianchi from the quarter of Santo Spirito, Verdi are from San Giovanni and Rossi from Santa Maria Novella.