A Short History of Florence and the Florentine Republic

The innovative city culture of Florence was the crucible within which Renaissance ideas first caught fire, with its soaring cathedral dome and classically-inspired palaces and piazzas. Brian Jeffrey Maxson reveals the city-state as medieval Italy's enduring legacy to the present, charting the transition of Florence from an obscure Guelph republic to a regional superpower. He discusses passionate dispute and intrigue, shedding fresh light on seminal events like the fiery end of oratorical firebrand Savonarola and Giuliano de Medicis brutal murder by the rival Pazzi family.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 23 February 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The innovative city culture of Florence was the crucible within which Renaissance ideas first caught fire. With its soaring cathedral dome and its classically-inspired palaces and piazzas, it is perhaps the finest single expression of a society that is still at its heart an urban one. For, as Brian Jeffrey Maxson reveals, it is above all the city-state – the walled commune which became the chief driver of European commerce, culture, banking, and art – that is medieval Italy's enduring legacy to the present. Charting the transition of Florence from an obscure Guelph republic to a regional superpower in which the glittering court of Lorenzo the Magnificent became the pride and envy of the continent, the author authoritatively discusses a city that looked to the past for ideas even as it articulated a novel creativity. Uncovering passionate dispute and intrigue, Maxson sheds fresh light too on seminal events like the fiery end of oratorical firebrand Savonarola and Giuliano de Medicis brutal murder by the rival Pazzi family. This book shows why Florence, harbinger and heartland of the Renaissance, is and has always been unique.

Weight: 372g
Dimension: 138 x 216 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781788314893