F L O R E N C E

Florence was founded as a colony of the Etruscan city of Fiesole in about 200 BC, later becoming the Roman Florentia, a garrison town controlling the Via Flaminia. In the early 12th century the city became a free comune and by 1138 it was ruled by 12 consuls, assisted by the Council of One Hundred, a bunch of rich merchants. In 1207, due to intractable problems with faction fighting, the council was replaced by a foreign (and thus allegedly unbiased) governor, the podestà.
In the XIII century the pro-papal Guelphs and pro-imperial Ghibellines started a century-long bout of bickering, which wound up with the Guelphs forming their own government in the 1250s. By 1292 Florence had had it with the obstreperous nobles, excluding them from government. The city became increasingly democratised, eventually becoming a commercial republic controlled by the Guelph-heavy merchant class.
The great plague of 1348 cut the city's population by almost half and really messed with people's heads. In the latter part of the XIV century the Medicis began consolidating power, eventually becoming bankers to the papacy. Cosimo Medici - patron of artists such as Donatello, Brunelleschi, Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi - became ruler of Florence. Perhaps the most famous Medici was Lorenzo, grandson of Cosimo, who took power in 1469. His court fostered a great flowering of art, music and poetry, and Lorenzo sponsored philosophers and artists such as Botticelli, da Vinci and Michelangelo.
Piazza del Duomo
The remarkable Duomo, with its pink, white and green marble façade and characteristic dome, dominates the city's skyline. The building took almost two centuries to build (and even then the façade wasn't completed until the XIX century), and is the fourth-largest cathedral in the world. The enormous dome was designed by Brunelleschi, and its interior features frescoes and stained-glass windows by some of the Renaissance-era's best: Vasari, Zuccari, Donatello, Uccello and Ghiberti.
Take a deep breath and climb up to take a closer look, and you'll be rewarded by fantastic views of the city and an insight into how the dome was so cleverly constructed - without scaffolding (though there's plenty of that propping the dome up now!)

The dome still defines the scale of the city, and no building in town is taller.
Giotto designed the cathedral's Campanile, and Pisano and della Robbia contributed bas-reliefs. It too is clad in white, pink and green marble.

The Baptistry is adjacent - it's one of the city's oldest buildings, and was originally a pagan temple. The building is most famous for its gilded bronze doors. Those on the south are by Pisano, but it is the doors facing east (and in the direction of the cathedral) that are most talked about. Created by Ghiberti, they are known as the Gates of Paradise (a moniker believed to have been dubbed by Michelangelo). Created between 1424 and 1452, their beauty and sophistication mark them as one of the first products of the Renaissance. The Baptistery’s ceilings feature gory XIII century mosaics of the Last Judgement. Behind the cathedral is the Duomo Museum, which features original panels taken from the doors of the Baptistery, Brunelleschi's death mask, equipment used to build the dome and an impressive sculpture collection, including pieces by Michelangelo.
Piazza della Signoria
The piazza was at the hub of Florence's political life through the centuries, and is surrounded by some of the city's most celebrated buildings. With its famous group of sculptures, the loggia looks a lot like an outdoor sculpture gallery; Cellini's magnificent statue of Perseus and Giambologna's Rape of a Sabine are particularly striking.
Guarding the Palazzo Vecchio, is a copy of Michelangelo's oh-so-strokable David. The palazzo has been Florence's town hall since 1322. Its characteristic tower is another of Florence's symbols, and the interior of the palazzo was lavishly redecorated by Vasari. An elevated corridor called Vasari's Corridor leads from the palazzo, through the Uffizi, across the Arno by way of the Ponte Vecchio, and all the way down to the Palazzo Pitti. The private walkway was used by the Medici family
as a way of visiting their scattered palaces without having to mingle with the masses. The walkway is lined, as if merely by second thought, with works of art.
Backing onto the loggia, and leading all the way down to the banks of the River Arno, is the famed Uffizi Gallery. The gallery's wonderful collection is arranged to illustrate the evolving story of Florentine art. Some of the most famous pieces are in rooms 7-18; they include Botticelli's Birth of Venus, Titian's Venus of Urbino, Michelangelo's Holy Family and Piero della Francesca's Duke & Duchess of Urbino.
If you make it out of the Uffizi with any energy and concentration left to spare, wander along the banks of the Arno towards the Ponte Vecchio.

The famous XIV century bridge is lined with shops selling gold and silver jewellery, a step up from the butcher shops which previously lined the bridge before Cosimo I decided glitter was better than gore. The bridge was the only one in the city to escape destruction during the II World War.