sculpture. The Pitti collection is in the royal palace (formerly
the residence of the grand dukes), and a fine new stairway
and vestibule have been constructed by royal munificence.
In the Uffizi the pictures are arranged in strict chronological
order. In the Accademia, which is rich in early Tuscan
masters, the Botticelli and Perugino rooms deserve special
mention. Other pictures are scattered about in the churches,
monasteries and private palaces. Of the monasteries, that of
St Mark should be mentioned, as containing many works of
Fra Angelico, besides relics of Savonarola, while of the private
collections the only one of importance is that of Prince Corsini.
There is a splendid museum of medieval and Renaissance
antiquities in the Bargello, the ancient palace of the Podestà,
itself one of the finest buildings in the city; among its many
treasures are works of Donatello, Ghiberti, Verrochio and other
sculptors, and large collections of ivory, enamel and bronze
ware. The Opera del Duomo contains models and pieces of
sculpture connected with the cathedral; the Etruscan and
Egyptian museum, the gallery of tapestries, the Michelangelo
museum, the museum of natural history and other collections
are all important in different ways.
The total population of Florence in 1905, comprising foreigners and a garrison of 5500 men, was 220,879. In 1861 it was 114,363; it increased largely when the capital of Italy was in Florence (1865–1872), but decreased or increased very slightly after the removal of the capital to Rome, and Population. increased at a greater rate from 1881 onwards. At present the rate of increase is about 22 per 1000, but it is due to immigration, as the birth rate was actually below the death rate down to 1903, since when there has been a slight increase of the former and a decrease of the latter.
Florence is the capital of a province of the same name, and the central government is represented by a prefect (prefetto), while local government is carried on by a mayor (sindaco) and an elective town council (consiglio comunale). The city is the seat of a court of cassation (for civil Administration. cases only), of a court of appeal, besides minor tribunals. It is the headquarters of an army corps, and an archiepiscopal see.
There are 22 public elementary schools for boys and 18 for girls (education being compulsory and gratuitous), with about 20,000 pupils, and 56 private schools with 5700 pupils. Secondary education is provided by one higher and four lower technical schools with 1375 pupils, three ginnasii or lower classical Education. schools, and three licei or higher classical schools, with 1000 pupils, and three training colleges with over 700 pupils. Higher education is imparted at the university (Istituto di studii superiori e di perfezionamento), with 600 to 650 students; although only comprising the faculties of literature, medicine and natural science, it is, as regards the first-named faculty, one of the most important institutions in Italy. The original Studio Fiorentino was founded in the 14th century, and acquired considerable fame as a centre of learning under the Medici, enhanced by the presence in Florence of many learned Greeks who had fled from Constantinople after its capture by the Turks (1453). Although in 1472 some of the faculties and several of the professors were transferred to Pisa, it still retained importance, and in the 17th and 18th centuries it originated a number of learned academies. In 1859 after the annexation of Tuscany to the Italian kingdom it was revived and reorganized; since then it has become to some extent a national centre of learning and culture, attracting students from other parts of Italy, partly on account of the fact that it is in Florence that the purest Italian is spoken. The revival of classical studies on scientific principles in modern Italy may be said to have begun in Florence, and great activity has also been displayed in reviving the study of Dante; Dante lectures being given regularly by scholars and men of letters from all parts of the country, above the church of Or San Michele as in the middle ages, under the auspices of the Società Dantesca. Palaeography, history and Romance languages are among the other subjects to which especial importance is given. Besides the Istituto di studii superiori there is the Istituto di scienze sociali “Cesare Alfieri,” founded by the marchese Alfieri di Sostegno for the education of aspirants to the diplomatic and consular services, and for students of economics and social sciences (about 50 students); an academy of fine arts, a conservatoire of music, a higher female training-college with 150 students, a number of professional and trade schools, and an academy of recitation. There are also many academies and learned societies of different kinds, of which one of the most important is the Accademia della Crusca for the study of the Italian language, which undertook the publication of a monumental dictionary.
Several of the Florence hospitals are of great antiquity, the most important being that of Santa Maria Nuova, which, founded by Folco Portinari, the father of Dante’s Beatrice, has been thoroughly renovated according to modern scientific principles. There are numerous other hospitals both Charities, etc. general and special, a foundling hospital dating from the 13th century (Santa Maria degli Innocenti), an institute for the blind, one for the deaf and dumb, &c. Most of the hospitals and other charitable institutions are endowed, but the endowments are supplemented by private contributions.
Florence is the centre of a large and fertile agricultural district, and does considerable business in wine, oil and grain, and supplies the neighbouring peasantry with goods of all kinds. There are no important industries, except a few flour-mills, some glass works, iron foundries, a motor car factory, straw Commerce and Industry. hat factories, and power-houses supplying electricity for lighting and for the numerous tramcars. There are, however, some artistic industries in and around the city, of which the most important is the Ginori-Richard porcelain works, and the Cantagalli majolica works. There are many other smaller establishments, and the Florentine artificer seems to possess an exceptional skill in all kinds of work in which art is combined with technical ability. Another very important source of revenue is the so-called “tourist industry,” which in late years has assumed immense proportions; the city contains a large number of hotels and boarding-houses which every year are filled to overflowing with strangers from all parts of the world. (L. V.*)
History
Florentia was founded considerably later than Faesulae (Fiesole), which lies on the hill above it; indeed, as its name indicates, it was built only in Roman times and probably in connexion with the construction by C. Flaminius in 187 B.C. of a road from Bononia to Arretium (which later on formed part of the Via Cassia) at the point where this road crossed the river Arnus. We hear very little of it in ancient times; it appears to have suffered at the end of the war between Marius and Sulla, and in A.D 15 (by which period it seems to have been already a colony) it successfully opposed the project of diverting part of the waters of the Clanis into the Arno (see Chiana). Tacitus mentions it, and Florus describes it as one of the municipia splendidissima. A bishop of Florence is mentioned in A.D 313. A group of Italic cremation tombs a pozzo of the Villanova period were found under the pavement of the medieval Vicolo del Campidoglio. This took its name from the Capitolium of Roman times, the remains of which were found under the Piazza Luna; the three cellae were clearly traceable. The capitals of the columns were Corinthian, about 4 ft. in diameter, and it became clear that this temple had supplied building materials for S. Giovanni and S. Miniato. Fragments of a fine octagonal altar, probably belonging to the temple, were found. Remains of baths have been found close by, while the ancient amphitheatre has been found near S. Croce outside the Roman town, which formed a rectangle of about 400 by 600 yds., with four gates, the Decumanus being represented by the Via Strozzi and Via del Corso, and the Cardo by the Via Calcinara, while the Mercato Vecchio occupied the site of the Forum.
See L. A. Milani, “Reliquie di Firenze antica,” in Monumenti dei Lincei, vi. (1896), 5 seq. (T. As.)
The first event of importance recorded is the siege of the city by the Goths, A.D 405, and its deliverance by the Roman general Stilicho. Totila besieged Florence in 542, but was repulsed by the imperial garrison under Justin, and later it was occupied by the Goths. We find the Longobards in Tuscany in 570, and mention is made of one Gudibrandus Dux civitatis Florentinorum, which suggests that Florence was the capital of a duchy (one of the regular divisions of the Longobard empire). Charlemagne was in Florence in 786 and conferred many favours on the city, which continued to grow in importance owing to its situation on the road from northern Italy to Rome. At the time of the agitation against simony and the corruption of the clergy, the head of the movement in Florence was San Giovanni Gualberto, of the monastery of San Salvi. The simoniacal election of Pietro Mezzabarba as bishop of Florence (1068) caused serious disturbances and a long controversy with Rome, which ended in the triumph, after a trial by fire, of the monk Petrus Igneus, champion of the popular reform movement; this event indicates the beginnings of a popular conscience among the Florentines.
