UNESCO estimates that 60% of the world’s most important artworks are in Italy, with over half of them located in Florence.
Florence is one of the most important art cities in the world, the Renaissance's birthplace, famous for its museums, art collections and monuments.
Dominated by the Dome, Florence has preserved its medieval network of streets. A unique architecture represented by the Cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, the Santa Croce Church, the Uffizi Palace and the Pitti Palace which are the work of artists like Giotto, Brunelleschi, Botticelli and Michelangelo.
Home of Galileo, Dante, Machiavelli, Michelangelo and the Medici Family Florence contains the greatest artistic patrimony, glorious testimony to its secular civilization. The works of Cimabue and Giotto, the fathers of Italian painting, along with Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano, reformists of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi and Donatello Botticelli and Paolo Uccello; the universal geniuses Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo

City of Florence – Official Website: www.comune.firenze.it
City of Florence – Website for Tourists: www.comune.firenze.it/servizi_pubblici
Florence Official Tourist Office: www.firenzeturismo.it/index.php?lang=en_EN
International Office of Tourism: www.officeoftourism.org/europe/italy/Tuscany/florence.asp
Museums in Florence: www.polomuseale.firenze.it/english
University of Florence - Museum of Natural History (University of Florence)

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. Tuscany is known for its artistic legacy, landscapes and wines, and has 120 protected nature reserves. Six Tuscan localities have been UNESCO protected sites: the historical center of Florence (1982), the historical center of Siena (1995), the square of the Cathedral of Pisa (1987), the historical center of San Gimignano (1990), the historical center of Pienza (1996) and the Val d'Orcia (2004).

On November 30, 1786, the then-independent Granducato di Toscana (Grand Duchy of Tuscany) abolished the death penalty, the first permanent abolition in modern times.
Grand Duke of Tuscany (Leopold II of Habsburg, famous enlightened monarch and future Emperor of Austria) after having de facto blocked capital executions (the last was in 1769) promulgated the reform of the penal code that abolished the death penalty and ordered the destruction of all the instruments for capital execution in his land. In 2000 Tuscany's regional authorities instituted an annual holiday on November 30 to commemorate the event. The event is also commemorated on this day by 300 cities around the world celebrating the Cities for Life Day.