Dino Compagni (1255-1324), Italian writer and politician, contemporary of Dante, described his town, Florence, as
"a populated city with a revitalized atmosphere; its citizens are very courteous and women of Florence are beautiful and embellished; there are also many artistic houses and palaces, more than the other cities in Italy. And for this reason, many people come there, not for necessity, but only to admire all these beauties." (from "Cronica delle cose occorrenti ne' tempi suoi").
Just saying the name of Florence, our mind is inevitably captured by a whirl of beauty and art, all enclosed in the historic centre, declared by UNESCO "World Heritage Site" since 1982. There are more than 60 museums, many churches and monuments scattered around the city. Here you can find the signatures of all great Renaissance artists, from Giotto to Brunelleschi, from Leon Battista Alberti to Michelangelo, from Leonardo to Botticelli, from Vasari to Piero della Francesca, impressed in the marbles, stones and paintings that make this city "The City of Art" of excellence!
Florence's charm also spreads out to the surrounding countryside and to all those towns which related their historical events to those ones of Florence: here many villas, fortresses, palaces and castles, built in a bucolic environment, became the ideal places where princes, writers and Florentine noblemen find solace from the fatigues of public and political life.
Without forgetting the simple and genuineness taste of the Florentine gastronomy (and of the whole Tuscany), characterized by firm but not elaborate flavors, as for example the excellent Chianina T-Bone, extra-virgin olive oil, DOCG Chianti Classico wines and DOCG Brunello from Montalcino wines.
Florence and its surroundings: a pleasure for all the senses!
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