Three of Florence's famous landmarks, left to right: the Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"), the Palazzo Vecchio ("Old Palace", with the tower), and the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore ("Duomo").
Florence (Firenze in Italian) is a world famous city in the region of Tuscany, in central Italy.
Once a powerful city-state and the cradle of The Renaissance, it is known in large part for the stunning amount of Renaissance and Classical artworks contained within; Michelangelo Buonarroti's David, one of the most famous sculptures in human history, calls Florence home. So does the Uffizi Gallery, one of the largest art museums in the world, which includes masterpieces of the Renaissance by Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and countless other famous artists.
In the Small Reference Pools of pop culture, a fondness for Florence is used as a quick and easy way of demonstrating a character's erudition and culture (either the heroic or villainous sort).
Works featuring Florence include:
- Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy when he was exiled from the city. It uses Florence's rich history extensively to explore the extents of Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise.
- Dante's younger compatriot and admirer Giovanni Boccaccio also used his city's history, politics, and culture as grist for his work. Notably, the brigata of the Frame Story of The Decameron are all young Florentine ladies and gentlemen, and Florence and its surrounding countryside are by far the most common setting for the book's hundred stories.
- Basically anything that revolves around the life of Italian Renaissance figures who were born, lived or went there at some point such as Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolò Machiavelli, the Medici family, Girolamo Savonarola, Benvenuto Cellini, Donatello, Michelangelo and many others. Among these:
- The Borgias, with the rise of Girolamo Savonarola.
- Borgia shows a bit of Cesare's friendship with Giovanni de'Medici.
- Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto takes place in 1491 and shows the deeper connections that existed between the Borgia and Medici families. Cesare was in school with Giovanni de'Medici in Pisa, which was under Florentine control. The main character, Angelo da Canossa, is a Florentine who befriends Cesare and Miguel (a.k.a. Michelotto) in school. Cesare visits Florence a few times, and the later volumes depict the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent (Giovanni's father), and the beginning of the changes that come to Florence from that point. The Pazzi Conspiracy (a plot by the nephews of Pope Sixtus IV to assassinate Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano, who did die) also features in flashbacks. Michelangelo and Leonardo also appear. The musical adaptation features a whole song about Primavera, and Dante Alighieri, who appears to Cesare as a vision, is a major character.
- Da Vinci's Demons
- Leonardo
- Medici
- One Winged Michelangelo shows the youth of Michelangelo.
- Sin — Several landmarks of the 16th century city are seen and the Medici family's rise to prominence in the whole of Italy is brought up, and there's Michelangelo's art of course.
- Assassin's Creed:
- Assassin's Creed II: Much of the early game is spent in Renaissance era Florence, as the protagonist, Ezio Auditore, was born and raised there and ended up helping the Medici against their common enemies, the Pazzi, and befriended Leonardo. The late 15th century city is recreated in painstaking detail, as well as neighbor smaller cities of Tuscany such as Monteriggioni (the headquarters of the Auditore family and the Tuscany Assassins) and San Gimignano. The DLC Bonfire of the Vanities also takes place there later in the game, with Ezio going up against the Reign of Terror of Girolamo Savonarola.
- The prequel short film Assassin's Creed: Lineage is also mostly set in Florence, mere days before the game starts. Ezio's father Giovanni fights against Templar mooks inside the Duomo, most notably.
- The city likewise appears in optional flashbacks of Ezio's youth that flesh out his tragic love affair with Cristina Vespucci in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
- Just like Ezio's life started in Florence, it ends there in Assassin's Creed: Embers.
- Hannibal Lecter has expressed his love for the city in The Silence of the Lambs and in other stories. Lecter ends up spending a lot of time in Florence in the novel Hannibal and the NBC drama, Hannibal. In both stories, he was on his way to earning tenure at a prestigious Florentine university before he was discovered by the FBI and Mason Verger's henchmen.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers: Paint it White wherein Firenze is overrun and "drained" by the Pict early on. Apparently, putting white flags over the city didn't help much.
- The Enchantress of Florence. Large portions of the book also take place in India, however.
- Most of Inferno (the book and the film) takes place in Florence, as its plot is heavily mired in Dante Alighieri references.
- Giacomo Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi is set in Florence, and has an aria in praise of the city.
- The Italian comedy film series My Friends was filmed and set there in The '70s.
- Michael Bay's 6 Underground has parts set there, with people roofhopping in the city, including one who goes down the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral.
- Philomena Cunk: Episode 3 of Cunk on Earth, discussing the Renaissance, is partly filmed on location in Florence.
- Gunslinger Girl. In "Protezione", Jean and his cyborg Rico stalk a Padania accountant visiting the Uffizi Gallery by posing as tourists.
