Florence History Time Line

• 1000 - Florence established on the Arno as a small walled city of the Roman Empire.
• 1018 - Church of San Miniato al Monte founded.
• 1078 - A circle of walls is built around the city by the Countess of Tuscany, Matilda.
• 1173 - Sole bridge across the Arno is Ponte Vecchio. More extensive walls are built around the city.
• 1216 - Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti is assassinated. Feudes between the Guelphs (supporters of the Papacy) and the Ghibellines (supporters of the Empire).
• 1246 - Santa Maria Novella (Dominican Church) is founded.
• 1252 - The Florence florin is first coined.
• 1265 - Birth of Dante.
• 1294 - Santa Croce (Franciscan Church) is founded.
• 1299 - Work begins on the Palazzo Vechio (Palazzo dei Priori)
• 1300 - Arnolfo di Cambio capomaestro of the new Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore. Giovanni Villani begins to write his cronicle of Florence.
• 1302 - Dante goes into exile along with other White Guelphs.
• 1313 - Giovanni Boccaccio is born around Florence, he dies in 1375.
• 1333 - The Arno floods and washes out the three bridges, much damage to the city.
• 1334 - Giotto begins the design of the Campanile for the Cathedral
• 1337 - The Church of Oranmichele is founded.
• 1348 - Outbreak of plague, the 'Black Death', Villani dies. As a result of the plague, Boccaccio opens the Decameron.
• 1350 - The Signoria decide to build a loggia (The Loggia dei Lanzi) for official receptions.
• 1376 - Work begins on the Loggia
• 1400 - Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, threatens Florence.
• 1401 - Competition organized for the seond pair of bronze doors for the Baptistery. Brunelleschi and Ghiberti are leading Florentine competitors, Ghiberti is finally chosen.
• 1418 - Brunelleschi wins the commission to build the cupola of the great Cathedral.
• 1425 - Ghiberti is assigned the commission for the third pair of Baptistery doors (the Doors of Paradise).
• 1426 - Masaccio and Masolino working on the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine.
• 1426 - Donatello and Michelozzo are at work on the tomb of the deposed Pope John XXIII in the Baptistery.
• 1427 - Institution of the Civic Tax in Florence (the catasto).
• 1429 - Death of Giovanni di Bicci de Medici, the founder of the family's fortune. He leaves two sons from whom decend two main branches of the family: Cosimo and Lorenzo.
• 1433 - Banishment of Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici from Florence by the oligarchich faction headed by Rinaldo degli Albizzi
• 1434 - Return of Cosimo from exile, unofficially he dominates the Republican government.
• 1444 - Michelozzo begins a palace for Cosimo and his family, the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi.
• 1449 - Birth of Lorenzo 'the Magnificent', son of Cosimo de' Medici's elder son, Piero.
• 1450 - Luca Landucci an apothecary (Pharmacist) begins keeping his dary of events.
• 1464 - Deatho f Cosimo de' Medici and succession of Piero as first citizen in Florence.
• 1469 - Death of Piero de' Mecici. Lorenzo is confirmed as his successor by a group of leading citizens.
• 1469 - Birth of Machiavelli.
• 1478 - The Pazzi conspiracy against the Medici fails politically, Florence is placed under edict by Pope Siztus IV.
• 1480 - Lorenzo the Magnificent negotiates peace and an accord with the Pope. A period of peace in Italy generally follows.
• 1483 - Birth of Francesco Guicciardini, historian and man of affiars.
• 1489 - The Ferarrese-born Dominican Fra Girolamo Savonarola attracts attention by his preaching. The foundations of the Palazzo Strozzi are laid, and Lorenzo the Magnificent begins his villa at Poggio a Caiano.
• 1492 - Death of Lorenzo his position in Florence is assumed by his eldest son, Piero who died in 1503.
• 1494 - Flight and banishment of Piero de' Medici from Florence. Invasion of Italy by Charles VIII of France. Florence becomes a reformed republic under the emotional sway of Savanarola.
• 1496 - The new governing body, The Great Council, inaugurated in the Palazzo Becchio, although not finished.
• 1498 - Savonarola and two fellow-Dominicans convicted of heresy at the instigation of Pope Alexander VI (Borgia) and publicly burnt on the Piazza della Signoria.
• 1502 - Under a new constitution the head of government in the republic to be the Gonfaloniere di Giustizia (Standard-bearer of Justice), who would hold office for life. Piero Soderini was the first and last to be so appointed.
• 1504 - Michelangelo's David is set up outside the Palazzo Vecchio. Under Soderini, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci each received a commission to execute a battle picture in the Hall of Great Council.
• 1509 - The city of Pisa surrenders to Florence.
• 1510 - Publication of Albertini's Memoriale di molte statue e pitture . . . de Firenze, the city's first printed guide book.
• 1512 - The republic is threatened by pro-Medici Papal forces, Prato is sacked and Florence compelled to accept reinstatement of the Medici.
• 1513 - Election of Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as Pope Leo X.
• 1515 - Triumphal entry of Leo X into Florence.
• 1519 - Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, created Archbishop of Florence and effectively its governor. Birth of Cosimo de' Medici, future first Grand Duke of Tuscany.
• 1520 - Cardinal Giulio de' Medici initiates building of new Medici sacrisity at San Lorenzo, its architecture and sculpture to be designed by Michelangelo.
• 1522 - Election of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici as Pope Clement VII, he died in 1534
• 1527 - Sack of Rome by inperial troops of the Emperor Charles V. The Medici expelled from Florence and the republic restored.
• 1529 - Peace between Emperor Charles V and Pope Clement VII, whose combined forces besiege Florence in the Medici cause.
• 1530 - Florence eventually surrenders.
• 1531 - Charles V declares the illegitimate Alessandro de' Medici head of government in Florence and in the next year creates him Duke of the Florentine Republic.
• 1537 - Assassination of Duke Alessandro. The ruling circle of Florence nominates the young Cosimo de' Medici as head of government, and he is confirmed by Charles V as Duke.
• 1539 - Duke Cosimo marries the younger Daughter of the Spanish viceroy of Naples, Eleonora di Toledo.
• 1540 - The duke and duchess leave the Medici palace to live in the Plazzo Vecchio.
• 1541 - Birth of the eldest son of the ducal pair, the future Grand Duke Francesco de' Medici.
• 1549 - Purchase by the duchess of the Palazzo Piti, subsequently the residence of all the grand dukes.
• 1550 - Vasari publishes the first edition of his Lives of the artists, dedicated to Duke Cosimo.
• 1560 - Vasari directs the start of building the state offices, the Uffizi.
• 1562 - Death of the duchess and two of her sons.
• 1564 - Abdication of Duke Cosimo in favour of his eldest son, Francesco.
• 1565 - Marriage of Francesco de' Medici and Archduchess Joanna of Austria.
• 1569 - Pope Paul V grants Cosimo the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany.
• 1574 - Death of Grand Duke Cosimo I.
• 1584 - Publication of Stefano Bonsignori's huge, detailed map of Florence, dedicated to Grand Duke Francesco.
• 1587 - Death of Grand Duke Francesco, succeeded by his brother, Cardinal Ferdinando.
• 1588 - Grand Duke Ferdinando I issues letters concerning marbles for a new Medici sepulchral chapel at San Lorenzo.
• 1594 - Giambologna's equestrian statue of Grand Duke Cosimo I set up in Piazza della Signoria.
• 1604 - First stone laid of the church of Santi Michele e Gaetano, and of the Chapel of the Princes at San Lorenzo.
• 1608 - Giambologna's equestrian statue of Ferdinando I set up in the Piazza Santissima Annunziata.
• 1609 - Death of Grand Duke Cosimo II, succeeded by his son, Cosimo II.
• 1610 - Galileo publishes at Venice his study of the stars, Siderius Nuncius, dedicated to the Medici grand duke.
• 1621 - Premature death of Grand Duke Cosimo II, succeeded by his son, Ferdinando II, a minor, under a regency of the widowed grand duchesses, his mother and grandmother.
• 1628 - Ferdinando II assumes power.
• 1641 - Pietro da Cortona decorates the Palazzo Pitti.
• 1670 - Death of Grand Duke Ferdinando II, succeeded by his son Cosimo III.
• 1682 - Luca Giordanofrescoes the ceiling of the galleria in the Medici palace which had been acquired by the Marchese Riccardi.
• 1683 - Inauguration of the Corsini chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine.
• 1713 - Death of Grand Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, Cosimo III's heir.
• 1718 - The chief European powers (including England) choose Don Carlos, son of the King of Spain, to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
• 1723 - Death of Cosimo III, succeeded by his childless son, Gian Gastone, the last Medici grand duke.
• 1743 - Death in Florence of the widowed Electress Palatine, Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, Cosimo III's daughter, who bequeathed the vast Medici collections to the new line of grand dukes as inalienable property of the state.
• 1769 - The Uffizi gallery opened to the public.
• 1784 - Founding of the Accademia di Belle Arti.
• 1799 - French troops occupy Florence, Ferdinando III retreats to Vienna.
• 1808 - Napoleon as Emperor adds Tuscany to French possessions and installs his sister, Elisa Baciocchi, in Florence as Grand Duchess.
• 1815 - Following the defeat of Napoleon, Ferdinando III returns as Grand Duke.
• 1816 - Return to Florence of most of the art treasures removed by the French.
• 1824 - Death of Ferdinando III and succession of his son, Leopoldo II.
• 1865 - Florence established as the capital city of Italy. Giuseppe Poggi begins a radical redevelopment of the city.