35 Things You Didn’t Know About Florence

35 Things You Didn’t Know About Florence

Because I went to Florence and totally loved it, I wanted to learn more about this amazing place!  So when I was visiting Florence I was carefully observing the city and I have discovered some things that interested me, shocked me. I got the impression that Florence is a place which has many secrets and interesting & shocking facts that I want to learn. So once i came back home I made even more researches about Florence and find out other interesting facts about Florence that shocked me a little. Now I want to share with you my List of Shocking facts I discovered about Florence because they are so interesting and surprising and worth knowing! So learn something new each day and today! I hope you like it. Here you are My List Of 35 Things You Didn’t Know About Florence

35 Things You Didn’t Know About Florence

1. Florence is the Capital city of the region of Tuscany.
2. Between 1865 and 1870 Florence was made capital of the newly united kingdom of Italy.
3. Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called “the Athens of the Middle Ages”
4. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 millions of tourists each year
5. It was Hitler itself who rescued The Ponte Vecchio of Florence from being destroyed during the World War II. He thought it was beautiful
6. Florence was the birthplace of pavement! In 1339 so before Rome, Venice, the first paved streets have been invented
7. Italian Gelato was invented in Florence! It was the Florentine architect who in 1565 made the first frozen dessert considered as Italian Gelato. In the 16th century the Florence’s Medici court popularized those frozen desserts so nowadays we are lucky to eat the best Italian Gelato in Florence indeed!
8. The Uffizi Gallery was originally built in 1560 for officials in the Medici government and served as the office building. The word “uffizi” itself means “offices,” and the building. In 1765 the building was opened entirely to the public and nowadays it served as an art gallery.
9. Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture had its arm broken! In 1504, the famous statue of “David”was installed outside the door of the Palazzo Vecchio. During a riot in 1527, a chair has been thrown from one of the windows and hit “David” in the left arm. The arm was broken in several places, and had to be repaired. Nowadays the original David statue is displayed in the Galleria dell’Accademia (moved there in 1873) and it’s replica can be admired in the Vecchio market square
10. Stendhal Syndrome has been born in Florence and acquired the name of Florence It is the state of mind when someone becomes lightheaded or dizzy because of the outstanding art. As strange as it sounds it is really true. In the early 1800s a French author Stendhal visited Florence, he experienced dizziness and faintness when he had seen all the art of the beautiful city. It wouldn’t get so important but because in the late 1970s an Italian doctor noticed over 100 cases of the same set of symptoms of other people visiting Florence, this has been associated with the Stendhal and named the Florence Syndrome.
11. Now healthy fact. Do you know that the salt is not healthy at all. So here you are, the Tuscan bread is traditionally made without salt since the 12th century and remains that recipes today that incorporate Tuscan bread benefit from the bread’s lack of salt.
12. Florence is the birthplace of Italian language. The famous Florentine – Dante Aligheri is said to create the standard Italian language that the whole country speaks nowadays.
13. Cue La Specola – the Museum of Zoology and Natural History is the weirdest museum in Florence. Definitely less crowded and well hidden, it is a small museum which presents an amazing collection of 18th Century wax anatomical models and huge collection of taxidermy. Would you believe?…a real gem!
14. Florentines (and Fiorentino in Italian) – this is how you call the citizens of Florence
15. On April 15, 1452. in the lower valley of the Arno River in Florence the very famous artist has been born…do you know Leonardo Da Vinci ? Of course you do!
16. Do you know Collodi or Carlo Lorenzini? Probably the name does not ring the bell! But do you know Pinocchio? Well Carlo Lorenzini (nickname: Collodi) another famous Florencine, is the author of Le Avventure di Pinocchio. The famous and worldwide known book is said to be published 1881 and 1883
17. Have you noticed that the symbol of lions is being engraved on every cornerstone and doorstep of the Ponte Vecchio. Well, this is because in the 13-18th century in the den in front of the Duomo the real linos have been kept and used for a local entertainment,
18. Marzocco is another symbols of Florence. It is the seated lion with the emblem of Florence resting on its paw. The name derives from Mars, which was the very first symbol of Florentia, and was then replaced by the lion.
19. Do you know where the name Via dei Leoni come from? This is not that well known fact but because the lions were once kept in cages behind Palazzo Comunale, in the street that is still known as Via dei Leoni today.
20. Do you fancy some tax-free shopping? You can find it in Florence indeed. Shop for handmade shoes or luxury leather goods. The best place for doing so is the Via de’ Tornabuoni, where you will find a variety of designer stores, including éline, Dior and Bulgari
21. Can you imagine that Cathedral Duomo took about 140 years to build! The works began on September 8th, 1296 and has been finished in March 25th 1436.
22. What is higher, do you know? The Duomo or Giotto’s Campanile? So to climb the Duomo you need to walk up 463 stone steps and to climb the Giotto’s Campanile around 400. The height of the dome is 114.5 metres (375.7 feet) while Giotto’s Campanile Tattains is 84.7 metres (277.9 ft) tall. Both gives an amazing vue indeed!
23. Do you recall Florence Nightingale, the famous nurse & founder of the modern nursing? She was actually born on 12 May 1820 into a rich, upper-class, well-connected British family at the Villa Colombaia,in Florence, Italy, and was named after the city of her birth. What is more, On 13 August 1910, at the age of 90 she died. A memorial monument to Nightingale was created in Carrara marble by Francis William Sargant in 1913 and placed in the cloister of the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence.
24. Florence has been established by Julius Caesar in 59 BC as a settlement for his veteran soldiers. It was built between two rivers, and therefore named originally Fluenti from,Florentia (“flowering”).
25. Do you know that the Florence symbol has been a lily since the 11th century, when Florentine knights participated in the first Crusade. But did you know that nowadays red lily used to be the white Florentine iris, a white that was very common in the local area. The colors were reversed once in the past, a white lily on a red field.
26. Do you know the famous explorer Amerigo Vespucci after whom America was named? During his voyages, he reached the land of Rio De Janeiro and believing he had discovered a new continent, he called South America the New World. He also comes from Florence, was born there in March 9, 1451
27. Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731) wasn’t born in Florence but lived here. He was employed by Ferdinando de’ Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany and during that time he invented the modern piano First known as the pianoforte which evolved from the harpsichord around 1700 to 1720.
28. The right hand of the statue of David is disproportionately large compared to the body because in the Middle Ages David was commonly said to be of “manu fortis” – strong of hand.
29. Do you know which the oldest church of Florence is? It is Basilica di San Lorenzo. The church famous as a burial place of the main members of the Medici family.
30. The main food speciality of Florence is so called bistecca alla Fiorentina, a mammoth chargrilled t-bone steak.
31. The famous people of Florence are the members of Medici family, Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolo Machievelli, Galileo Galilei, Amerigo Vespucci, Donatello, Raffaele, Roberto Cavalli, and Guccio Gucci, fashion designer
32. In 2013, Florence was listed as the second best world city by Condé Nast Traveler.”
33. Another Florence invention is the Opera. It is said that Opera was invented in Florence in the late 16th century
34. Sea of Shoes – The Museo Salvatore Ferragamo is a must-visit for any footwear fanatic. The museum is home to more than 10,000 privately commissioned shoes, including an unusual pair created from dyed fish skins
35. Fashion brand Gucci was founded in Florence by Guccio Gucci in 1921.

I hope you learned something new and interesting today! Have you already known some of the Shocking Facts I discovered about Florence? Do you know any other? Do you know any other interesting fact that shocked you about Florence? Can you please share with me? I love to explore and discover even more things and especially The Shocking Facts about Florence…as I love to learn something new each day and I also plan to come back to Italy one day….Thanks