What they said about Florence

   Florence generates a desire for 

glory and honour and 
gives a natural quickness
to the perceptions of men.

                                          Vasari
    Ahi, dolce e gaia terra fiorentina,

fontana di valore e di piacere,

fiore de l'arte, Fiorenza.

   Ah, sweet gay florentine land
font of gallantry and pleasure,
flower of art, Florence.
      (Chiaro Davanzati)                           

                                 Florence, beneath the sun,

                                Of cities, fairest one!

                                                           (Shelley)                                                                                                                                                                         

                                                    THE OLD BRIDGE at FLORENCE

                                               Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)              

                           

                                                                             

    TADDEO GADDI built me. I am old,

    Five centuries old. I plant my foot of stone

 Upon the Arno, as St. Michael’s own

 Was planted on the dragon. Fold by fold

                                                      Beneath me as it struggles, I behold

   Its glistening scales. Twice hath it overthrown

  My kindred and companions. Me alone

  It moveth not, but is by me controlled.

                                                         and remember when the Medici

  Were driven from Florence; longer still ago

 The final wars of Ghibelline and Guelf.

Florence adorns me with her jewelry;

  And when I think that Michael Angelo

Hath leaned on me, I glory in myself.