Florence

Florence is the capital city of the <a href="/facts/Italy/tUf0PDYF">Italian</a> region of <a href="/facts/Tuscany/Ivw1ogrE">Tuscany</a>. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in <a href="/facts/Metropolitan_City_of_Florence/pf3enEBF">its metropolitan province</a> as of 2025.
Florence was a centre of <a href="/facts/Middle_Ages/RqzEKB9v">medieval</a> European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered by many academics to have been the birthplace of the <a href="/facts/Renaissance/4D9Bc6KU">Renaissance</a>, becoming a major artistic, cultural, commercial, political, economic and financial center. During this time, Florence rose to a position of enormous influence in Italy, Europe, and beyond. Its turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful <a href="/facts/House_of_Medici/HjG9REhl">Medici</a> family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city served as the capital of the <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Italy/X5hxYBvF">Kingdom of Italy</a>. The <a href="/facts/Florentine_dialect/ryu5wqjJ">Florentine dialect</a> forms the base of <a href="/facts/Italian_language/YXsmvlQG">standard Italian</a> and it became the language of culture throughout Italy due to the prestige of the masterpieces by <a href="/facts/Dante_Alighieri/rXX7fIg0">Dante Alighieri</a>, <a href="/facts/Petrarch/sbLMjk0u">Petrarch</a>, <a href="/facts/Giovanni_Boccaccio/w9fQeppG">Giovanni Boccaccio</a>, <a href="/facts/Niccol%25C3%25B2_Machiavelli/ke0IvMXB">Niccolò Machiavelli</a> and <a href="/facts/Francesco_Guicciardini/o63sftbL">Francesco Guicciardini</a>.
Florence attracts millions of tourists each year, and <a href="/facts/UNESCO/QSbkRv3o">UNESCO</a> declared the <a href="/facts/Historic_Centre_of_Florence/9QWlWP8v">Historic Centre of Florence</a> a <a href="/facts/World_Heritage_Site/6AbWWKV4">World Heritage Site</a> in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, <a href="/facts/Italian_Renaissance_painting/mhcp9f58">Renaissance art and architecture</a> and monuments. The city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the <a href="/facts/Uffizi/v2tmuaNH">Uffizi Gallery</a> and the <a href="/facts/Palazzo_Pitti/QIDzyKly">Palazzo Pitti</a>, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florence's artistic and architectural heritage, <a href="/facts/Forbes/lyULpGhW">Forbes</a> ranked it as one of the most beautiful cities in the world in 2010.
Florence plays an important role in <a href="/facts/Italian_fashion/A01szroh">Italian fashion</a>, and is ranked in the top 15 <a href="/facts/Fashion_capital/U4jJx5L0">fashion capitals</a> of the world by <a href="/facts/Global_Language_Monitor/TLuSKS9u">Global Language Monitor</a>; furthermore, it is a major national economic centre, as well as a tourist and industrial hub.

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Florence