Facts about Florence, Italy

• Lucius Cornelius Sulla founded the city of Florence in 80 BC.
• Firenze is the Italian name of Florence.
• The people of Florence are called “Florentines.”
• Florence was named originally Fluentia.
• Florence was home to the notorious Medici family from the fourteenth century to the eighteenth century.
• Florence is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 367,569 inhabitants (1,500,000 in the metro area).
• The city is considered the “Athens of the Middle Ages”, “Jewel of the Renaissance” and the “birthplace of the Italian Renaissance”.
• The city is known especially for its art and architecture.
• Florence Nightingale was born in and named after the city of Florence.
• Florence is arguably the last preserved Renaissance city in the world and is regarded by many as the art capital of Italy.
• Amerigo Vespucci, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei, Niccolo Machievelli, Rafael, Donatello, Robert Cavalla, and Guccio Gucci all lived in Florence.
• From 1865 to 1870 Florence was the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.
• Famous Ponte Vecchio is the only bridge in Florence to have survived World War II intact. German dictator, Adolf Hitler declared it was too beautiful to destroy.