Severe
and grandiose, a place of worship in the western artistic collective imagination,
the marvels of Florence unfold along the two banks of the Arno, in a hollow
surrounded by hills, which blend with the city into a landscape of incomparable
beauty. The entire scene is dominated by Brunelleschi's majestic dome, "it
touches the skies and is grand enough to cover the Tuscan people with its shadow…",
according to Leon Battista Alberti's description.
The extraordinary prosperity it achieved in the course of the 13th century,
thanks to the feverish activity of its merchants, its bankers and its artisans
was the propelling factor that was to lead Florence to establish itself as one
of the capitals of world culture and to remain so until the 16th century. The
breeding ground of artists and masterpieces of incomparable merit, it expressed
the ideals achieved by art and by science, by thought and by the human spirit
in the vast, often silent movements of Humanism and the Renaissance. The protagonists
and champions of this brilliant destiny were the Medici, the family that held
power for almost three centuries and collected many of those masterpieces that
would later go to form the immense heritage of the Uffizi.
Florence is much more than a city: its history coincides with its legend, its
past with the essence of its present, its image with the icon of beauty and
of measure.
