Modern Tuscany (1950 – present)
By TuscanyVillages at May 4, 2010 | 10:08 am | 0 Comment
By the end of the war, much of Italy was in a devastated state and financial ruin. The 1950s and 1960s were a period of rebuilding both physically and economically. Florence had yet another setback in 1966 when a 20 foot high flood devastated the city and covered many of its art treasures in mud. With national and international help, the city slowly recovered. By the
World War I & World War II (1900 – 1950)
By TuscanyVillages at May 4, 2010 | 10:07 am | 0 Comment
At the beginning of the 20th century, Italy was still struggling to define itself as a new nation. It was divided economically into the flourishing north and devastatingly poor south. During this period, the economy in Tuscany depended largely on agriculture, and was suffering due to the rural depopulation. Railway lines connected cities in the north of Italy to the
Urban Renewal and the Unification of Italy (1800s)
By TuscanyVillages at May 4, 2010 | 10:06 am | 0 Comment
In 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy, confiscating lands, removing the Austrian and Spanish dukes, and uniting many of the previously independent Italian city-states. Austrian rule of Tuscany ended abruptly when the French army arrived in Florence in 1799. While Napoleon’s control of Italy only lasted until 1815, this period inspired nationalists throughout the
Baroque (1600s-1700s)
By TuscanyVillages at May 4, 2010 | 10:05 am | 0 Comment
During the 1600s and 1700s, many of Italy’s city-states continued to be ruled by foreign leaders. In Florence, the Medici family remained in power, but the period was one of decline, and the control of Florence eventually passed to Austrian Hapsburg rule in 1737. The Austrian rule brought a period of relative peace and order to central Italy, and many civic improvement
High Renaissance and Mannerism (1500s)
By TuscanyVillages at May 4, 2010 | 10:04 am | 0 Comment
While the Renaissance ideals that were born in Italy in the 1400s spread across Europe, the political and economic situations in Florence and throughout Italy were falling apart. Other European nations broke Italy’s monopoly on trade with the East, bringing unexpected ruin to many of the wealthy banking families in Florence. The Medici family was not immune, and they
The Birth of the Renaissance (1400s)
By TuscanyVillages at May 4, 2010 | 10:03 am | 0 Comment
With new developments in the arts underway, the 1400s mark the true beginning of the Renaissance, or the rebirth of the arts and sciences that has its roots in Tuscany. Many of Italy’s most famous artists worked during this period, including Michelangelo Buonarroti, Sandro Botticelli, and Donatello. The Renaissance brought with it a revival of intellectual studies in
The Late Middle Ages (1100s – 1300s)
By TuscanyVillages at May 4, 2010 | 10:02 am | 0 Comment
By the beginning of the 12th century, many cities throughout Tuscany had become independent republics. Cities such as Florence, Perugia, Pisa and Siena developed into wealthy, urban centers due to textile manufacturing, trade, agriculture and banking industries. During this period, sea-trading cities such as Pisa, along with Venice, Genoa and Amalfi in other regions of
Etruscans, Romans & Early Middle Ages (8th Century BC – 11th Century AD)
By TuscanyVillages at May 4, 2010 | 10:01 am | 0 Comment
Long before the Roman Empire, the Etruscans civilization dominated central Italy and the regions today called Tuscany and Umbria. From the 8th to the 6th century BC, the Etruscans founded many well-known cities, including Arezzo, Cortona, Fiesole, Perugia and Volterra. While many mysteries remain about the Etruscans, scholars continue to study their archaic language and
