Florence is where the Modern world was born...

Homo sapiens sapiens started in Ethiopia. Natufians started in the Levant/Israel. Proto-settlers developed the areas along southern Anatolia. Early-urbanites settled near the top of the Persian Gulf. The roots of Mediterranean culture arose in Egypt. ‘Greek’ culture started in the Ionic coast of Anatolia/Turkey. Ancient and modern Italian culture emerged in central Italy — twice. The ‘modern’ world was born in the “renaissance” of Florence.

Fibonacci’s Indian numbers and book Calculations launched north central Italian banking at nearly the same time that Genoa and Venice started re-exploring the Mediterranean sea. Chinese silk and English wool were crafted in Florence and Flanders. Florence bankers created the European currency the florin. Before the Dutch and English created stock markets and early European corporations, Florence was the center of European finance and banking. Christopher Columbus, a Genoese Italian, sailed for the Spanish but with Florentine money from the Medici family. That same family financed the surge of renaissance art, Florence’s duomo’s dome (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore), and much more. Wikipedia says, “The Medici family financed the construction of Saint Peter's Basilica and Florence Cathedral, and were patrons of Donatello, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Machiavelli, Galileo, and Francesco Redi…”

Amerigo Vespucci, the namsake of America — for good or for bad, was born in Florence. Petarch founded ‘humnaism’ which is a core part of the renaissance. He was born in Arezzo, Italy which is very close to Florence. He grew up in ‘suburban’ Florence. Though he bounced around Europe, he remained great Friends with Boccaccio. Boccaccio lived his live in an area very near Florence.

The Italian language is anchored in Florentine vernacular from the region of Tuscany. Dante Alighieri was from Florence.