Florence
Florence, located in northern Italy, was the heart of the
entire Renaissance movement. The city was protected by
three sets of walls, in the fear of siege, and, in the early
14 th century, its population is estimated to have been up
to a hundred thousand residents.
Like every great medieval city in the world, it was built
upon a valley near a river. The river Arno has its
headwaters located in the holy plateau Casentino, home
1) The emblem of
to many medieval saints and the headquarters of the La
Florence
Verna monastery. Arno was the source of water driving
the textile industry. However, its waters were unstable
from season to season. In the
summertime, it was shrunk into a
small river, hindering the movement of
ships towards Pisa, located in the
western coast, circa 80 miles from the
centre of Florence, while in the
wintertime, the level of the water would
rise, flooding the surrounding areas.
The city of Florence has always been
secured by walls, eleven meters high
2) Panoramic view of Florence
each. The third set of walls,
constituting of 73 towers, 15 gates, one
internal peripheral road and an external trench, covers a perimeter of 8
kilometers and an area of 6.35 square kilometers.
The life in Florence was so deeply infiltrated by religion, that few were the ones
disputing it. Except for the Sundays, there were approximately forty religious
holidays, while the existence of fraternities and wandering preachers was
significant. Moreover, women’s monasteries in the gates and the repentant cells
in Ponte alle Grazie were no unusual.
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