Our Florence series takes you to all the city’s highlights from the iconic domed cathedral (the ‘duomo’) to the world-famous art galleries and palazzos. Travel through history and meet Dante, and Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo and the Medici family. Learn about their connection to Florence and discover where you can ‘find’ them in the city today.
The 19 episodes in our City Break Florence series bring you all the background history and culture you need to fully understand this beautiful city. In short, here is all the research you’d do yourself if only you had the time.
Each episode centres around a podcast, available here or on all the usual providers. As a minimum, you’ll also find an introductory summary plus useful links and ideas for further reading. Eventually, there’ll be full blogpost with lot more information and pictures.
FLORENCE : HISTORY & CULTURE
EPISODE 1: Introduction to Florence
Benvenuto a Firenze: This introduction to our Florence series brings you information to help you get your bearings and pick up the basic facts which underpin everything.
EPISODE 2: Inside the Duomo
Stories from inside Florence’s cathedral: all about the painting ‘Dante’s Divine Comedy’, how Brunelleschi designed the dome and why a murder was committed in front of the altar in 1478.
EPISODE 3: Around the Duomo
A brief history of three buildings closely connected to the duomo, namely the baptistery, Giotto’s bell tower and the Cathedral Museum, along with pointers to the works of art to look out for in each.
EPISODE 4: Dante
The story of Dante’s life in Florence, plus some of his writing and tips on where to look for him in the city today.
EPISODE 5: Sante Croce
A tour of Santa Croce involves visiting some of Italy’s most famous tombs (think Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo …), remembering the devastating floods of 1966 and seeing the symbol of the city’s recovery from flood damage in the shape of Cimabue’s rescued-from-the-waters crucifix.
EPISODE 6: Santa Maria Novella
A brief history of Santa Maria Novella – including the exotic visitors who came to the Council of Florence and the arrival of Eleanor of Toledo – and then a description of the church as a thriving artistic community in medieval days, one which nurtured such talents as Cimabue, Giotto and Fra Lippi.
EPISODE 7: Palazzo Medici Riccardi
The first Palazzo the Medici built themselves is plain outside, but fabulous inside – find out why and hear about some of the artwork inside. And hear the history of the first few generations of this amazing family who ruled Florence for two centuries.
EPISODE 8: San Lorenzo
A description of the San Lorenzo district in medieval times, plus a visit to the Medici family church, famous for its artwork, especially the two pulpits by Donatello, who is buried here alongside his friend and sponsor, Cosimo di Medici. Biographies of both men conclude the episode.
EPISODE 9: Around San Lorenzo
Staying near San Lorenzo church, first a visit to the Laurentian Library, with its Michelangelo staircase and reading room, plus a magnificent collection of ancient books and manuscripts. Next, we take in the nearby Medici Chapel, where over 50 family members are buried, some of them in the splendidly over-decorated mausoleuim on the upper floor. And to finish, a biography of perhaps the best-known Medici of them all, Lorenzo il Magnifico.
EPISODE 10: Piazza della Signoria
First, find out about some of the historical events which took place in the Piazza della Signoria across the centuries, then hear about the main works of art to be found there. The final section tells the story of the 15th century mad monk Girolamo Savonarola, whose fiery preaching persuaded the citizens of Florence to burn most of their precious possessions in a grand ‘bonfire of the vanities’ here on the square.
EPISODE 11: Palazzo Vecchio
Find out why Duke Cosimo di Medici moved his family into the Palazzo Vecchio, the building which was originally his office, and how he and his Spanish wife Eleonora di Toledo made it both a symbol of the power of the Medici family and a comfortable home for themselves and their numerous children. Hear too how Machiavelli worked from here and about some of the unfortunates who were imprisoned in the Torre di Arnolfo, the high crenellated tower which rises above the Palazzo and can be seen from all over Florence.
EPISODE 12: Machiavelli
This episode takes time out from visiting the sights of Florence in order to get to know more about one of the city’s most famous inhabitants: Nicolo Machiavelli, one-time Secretary to the Council of Florence, but much better known to us for his writings. Hear about his life at the centre of Florence’s politics, his banishment to the countryside when he fell out of favour and the writing he left behind, from ‘perhaps the most famous letter ever written in Italian’ to his advice to a former boss on how to succeed politically, written up in ‘The Prince’.
EPISODE 13: Palazzo Pitti
Hear how the Medicis lorded it over the Pittis by buying up the grand palace which the latter could no longer afford. There are brief biographies of various Medici, some who patronised the arts and sciences and others who murdered each other to ensure their own succession. Find out which one was the ‘the spendthrift cardinal’ and which one was said to have ‘passed his brief life between luncheons, receptions and literary or scientific debates.’ Finally, hear about the most noteworthy things to look out for at the Palazzo, such as the Boboli Gardens, and paintings by Raphael and Titian.
EPISODE 14: Galileo
Amid all the art and culture in Florence, it’s important to remember that the city also has a special place in the history of science, most notably as the home of Galileo. This episode begins with a biography, including his links to the Medici family, his main work and his controversial dispute with the catholic church, whose doctrine was in direct opposition to Galileo’s teaching. Hear about the resulting trial and sentence, and find out about the places in Florence today where Galileo is remembered, notably at his tomb in Santa Croce and at the Science Museum named after him.
EPISODE 15: San Marco
Perhaps one of Florence’s lesser-known pleasures, San Marco’s tranquil atmosphere and beautiful frescos are a delight. Hear a brief history of the building, including its connections to Cosimo de Medici and the ‘mad monk’ Savonarola, both of whose rooms you can visit. Find out too about the 43 monks’ cells, each with their own fresco, the Pilgrim’s Hospice and the Library, originally commissioned by Cosimo di Medici and today housing displays of medieval illuminated manuscripts. Lastly, there is information on the monastery’s two most famous artists – Fra Angelico and Bartolomeo – and on the works they left behind them here at San Marco.
EPISODE 16: Michaelangelo
Of course, Michelangelo deserves an episode to himself and this is it. First, hear about the museums which display his work, including the Bargello and the Accademia. Then, there’s a brief biography, focussing particularly on his Florence connections, especially his time as a youngster under the care and sponsorship of Lorenzo il Magnifico. Despite a long period working in Rome, Michelangelo took care to leave instructions that after his death his body should be returned to his home city for a funeral and burial in Santa Croce. Florence is still proud to be ‘the birthplace of this divinely endowed spirit’.
EPISODE 17: The Uffizi
This episode is devoted to the Uffizi, Florence’s world-famous art gallery, offering a short history of the gallery and an overview of its treasures. The main focus is then on a number of highlights by Italian painters, such as the three glorious Madonnas (by Ducio, Cimabue and Giotto respectively) displayed together in the first main room plus, of course, Botticelli’s Primavera and The Birth of Venus. Mention is also made of a well-known double portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino by Piero della Francesca and in each case the descriptions are supplemented by useful background information.
EPISODE 18: Travel Writing
First a brief look at some history books which have much to tell about Florence, and then glimpses into the many different writings of those – famous and not-so-famous – who have travelled to Florence and then written about it. There is a whole selection of quotes from travellers as varied as the actor David Garrick enjoying the city’s ‘fine profusion of things’ in 1763, and Dylan Thomas who found Florence ‘a gruelling museum’. Find out too about such literary delights as Mary McCarthy’s The Stones of Florence, David Leavitt’s Florence: A Delicate Case and Diana Athill’s A Florence Diary.
EPISODE 19: Literary Florence
The final episode on Florence focuses on a selection of the many literary writings connected to the city, beginning with the Tuscan writers Petrarch and Boccacio and the English poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Then four novels set in Florence are covered:Irving Stone’s biographical novel about Michelangelo,The Agony and the Ecstasy, Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel, E M Forster’s A Room with a View and finally Sarah Dunant’s The Birth of Venus, a vivid imagining of the life of a 15 year-old cloth merchant’s daughter, which paints a colourful picture of Florence in 1528.
Florence: links and reading
3 useful websites for tourists
Feel Florence
Visit Florence
Destination Florence
4 guidebooks on Florence
Pocket Rough Guide to Florence
Time Out Florence City Guide
Blue Guide Florence by Alta Macadam
Strolling through Florence by Mario Erasmo
2 more guidebooks on Florence and Tuscany
Lonely Planet Guide to Florence and Tuscany
Eyewitness Travel Guide to Florence and Tuscany by Christopher Catling
3 history books and a guide to art and architecture
Florence, the Biography of a City by Christopher Hibbert
The Medici by Paul Strathern
The Medici by Mary Hollingsworth
Art and Architecture in Florence by Rolf C Wirtz
4 anthologies
Florence: A Traveller’s Reader by Edward Cheney
Florence Stories Everyman’s Library Pocket Classics
A Literary Companion to Florence by Frances King
Florence Has Won My Heart by Mark Roberts
2 memoirs of Florence
Florence: A Delicate Case by David Leavitt
A Florence Diary by Diana Athill
4 novels set in Florence
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone (Biographical novel about Michelangelo)
A Room with a View by E M Forster
Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel
PODCASTS TO GET YOU STARTED
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