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Article: Florence
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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FLORENCE
FLORENCE.
Originally a center of Roman provincial government and commerce, Florence in the Middle Ages became an important bishopric, a county nominally subject to the Holy Roman Emperor, and, by 1138, a commune. Beginning in 1125 with the capture of its nearby rival, Fiesole, Florence embarked on a policy of Tuscan expansion that would culminate in the mid-sixteenth century with its conquest of Siena and its position as the capital of Tuscany. A hub of banking, commerce, and textiles, it was, along with Venice, Milan, Rome, and Naples, one of the five powers of Renaissance Italy as well as the axis of Renaissance Italian culture. Its history throughout the early modern era ...