Florence - Ancient Italy

Florence - the oldest city in Italy , located in Tuscany and founded by Julius Caesar . From the Latin name of this city is translated as flourishing , but to the center of Italy gained the status of cultural and financial , it took several centuries. Florence felt the spirit of the Renaissance, the Renaissance. Here lived and worked great masters , among them Giovanni Boccaccio , Petrarch , Machiavelli, and Dante Alighieri , rightly considered the progenitor of modern melodic Italian. In Tuscany lived and worked Galileo Galilei , who in 1609 created the world's first telescope and discovered using the rings of Saturn moons of Jupiter . A master of the Renaissance Michelangelo was also a native of Tuscany. There is a legend of painting after Michelangelo in Rome St. Peter's , he could read a book , lifting them above his head. Florence visited by a huge number of foreign tourists due to its attractions. Symbol of the city - the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore , in Piazza della Signoria is the administrative center of the city - the Palazzo Vecchio, built by architect Arnoldo di Cambio . Near the palace is known throughout the world Uffizi Gallery , which contains works by Raphael , Botticelli , Michelangelo .
 

Florence on the number of landmarks occupies a leading position in Europe. Santa Maria del Fiore - the largest church in Italy with the world's only brick dome , its construction lasted about 600 years. Engaged in the design of the cathedral six architects , including Arnoldo di Cambio , who laid the first stone. Then another famous master Giotto bell tower began to develop the project , but a fierce plague that killed most of Tuscany, has suspended work , many years later, work was continued by other architects . Today the temple is able to accommodate about 30 thousand people , its length is 153 m , width - 90 m, the height from the ground to the dome is also 90 meters This cathedral UNESCO added to the list of World Heritage sites. The Cathedral is a cross in his tower located 16 sculptures of the prophets , and all around them - the bas-reliefs, which refers to the creation of man and the world. Climb the tower to 414 steps , you can see almost all the delights of Florence. Classic Italian architecture of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is also the Santa Maria del Fiore. Hiking in the local fashion shops will help tourists to diversify the cultural program . Having studied before the trip reviews of Italian shopping, you can see when and where to look first. Every year in June in Tuscany goes medieval football, which began about 500 years ago . In Florence, the city-museum , combines contemporary urban life and violent fantasy Renaissance masters , who left for their descendants indelible mark on the history of art.