Podere Il Pino

Florence is often called the cradle of the renaissance: the city is characterised throughout by that extraordinary literary, artistic and scientific development which took place between the 14th and 16th centuries. Among the events antecedent to this period of splendour were the crisis of the Catholic Church, (especially the Western Schism and the controversy over the Papacy of Avignon in France), and the disastrous effects of the Black Death which led to critical re-examination of mediaeval values and subsequently to a revaluation of the values of classical antiquity. Florence benefited both materially and spiritually from this great social change, becoming one of the catalysing places of that current of thought, one of the age's most important centres for the rebirth of world culture. Declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1982 the historic centre of Florence, enclosed within the avenues that follow the course of the old mediaeval walls, contains the city's most important cultural treasures. Delimited by the 14th century walls, built thanks to its economic and trading power, it enjoyed its maximum splendour over the next two centuries. The old town centre may be appreciated as a whole from the surrounding hills, especially from Forte Belvedere, from Piazzale Michelangelo with the Romanesque Basilica di San Miniato al Monte, and from the hill of Fiesole which offers one of the most evocative views of the Arno valley.

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