Florence [antikvár]

HISTORICAL NOTES Although we do not know when the original town was built, it is known that on the site where the city now lies there was an Italic settlement, which was subsequently taken over by the Etruscans. During colonisation of the countryside around Fiesole, it became a Roman town under Silla, and was known by the augural name of Florentia. During the Longobard rule it was the seat of a Duke and then of a Count in the Carolingian era. The city had no particular importance during the Roman Empire or under Barbarian rule. Its very slow growth began only in the tenth and eleventh centuries with the general awakening of the Italian people. It reached full autonomy around 1115 when, on the death of Countess Matilde of Tuscany who had ruled the town (and by taking advantage of the conflict between Papacy and the Empire), it succeeded in proclaiming itself a free Commune, fighting against the feudal lords, and established supremacy over the nearby towns. The wealthy noble class soon had the upper hand in ruling the Comune. This class was made up partly of the richest merchants and the clergy, but mostly of noble families perennially fighting against each other for supremacy. The murder of Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti (Easter 1215) divided the nobility into two factions: the Amidei and Uberti and the Buondelmonti and Donati. Under the names of Ghibellines and Guelphs, they fought desperately for nearly a century. Despite fighting among the factions, the city prospered and gained military power; Pisa, Pistoia, Volterra and Arezzo came under its rule. After the victory of Monteaperti (1260), the Ghibellines, who had been thrown out of the city ten years earlier, returned with Farinata 2