Florence

Florence is a city in central Italy that was founded as a Roman military colony about the 1st century BC and achieved preeminence in commerce and finance, learning, and the arts during the 14th-16th centuries. Discovery of Villanovan material suggests earlier occupation, perhaps from the 8th-9th centuries BC. Remains of the Roman period include bath buildings, theater and amphitheater, and a temple to Isis.

[Roman Florentia, modem Italian Firenze]. City in Tuscany, central Italy, a rich and important town since later Roman imperial times. Little is known of earlier settlement on this favourable site on the junction of the Arno and the Mignone, but recently discovered Villanovan material suggests occupation from the 8 th or 9th centuries bc. It is probably not an Etruscan town. The Etruscan town which we would expect to find serving the same function as present-day Florence (i.e. major staging-post between Etruria and the Po plain) is possibly to be seen at Fiesole (Roman Faesulae) situated upon a neighbouring hill, although even there the bulk of the material evidence (e.g. walls, temple and cemetery) date only from the early 3rd century bc. Present-day Florence would seem to date only from the establishment of a Roman colonia in the mid-1st century bc. Evidence for the Roman period include remains of a couple of bath buildings, theatre and amphitheatre and a temple to Isis, but very little is still to be seen in situ.