Florence (lang-itFirenze audioIt-Firenze.ogglisten, IPA-itfi?r?ntsepron; alternative obsolete spelling: Fiorenza, Latin: Florentia) is the capital (capital city) city of the Italian region (Regions of Italy) of Tuscany and of the province (provinces of Italy) of Florence (Province of Florence). It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 367,569 inhabitants (1,500,000 in the metropolitan area).

The city lies on the River Arno (Arno) and is known for its history and its importance in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, especially for its art and architecture. A centre of medieval (Middle Ages) European trade and finance and one of the richest and wealthiest cities of the time, Florence is considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance; in fact, it has been called the Athens of the Middle Ages. It was long under the de facto rule of the Medici (House of Medici) family. From 1865 to 1870 the city was also the capital of the Kingdom of Italy (Italy).

The historic centre of Florence attracts millions of tourists (tourism) each year and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. Florence is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and its artistic, historic (history) and cultural (culture) heritage and impact in the world remains vast up to this day. The city has also a major European impact in music, architecture, education, cuisine, fashion, philosophy, science and religion. The historic centre of Florence contains numerous elegant squares (piazzas), Renaissance palaces (palazzi (palazzo)), academies (academy), parks, gardens, church (church (building))es, monasteries (monastery), museums, art galleries (art museum) and ateliers. The city has also been nominated, according to a 2007 study, as the most desirable destination for tourists in the world.

The city boasts a wide range of collections of art, especially those held in the Pitti Palace (Palazzo Pitti) and the Uffizi, (which receives about 1.6 million tourists a year). Florence is arguably the last preserved Renaissance city in the world and is regarded by many as the art capital of Italy. It has been the birthplace or chosen home of many notable historical figures, such as Dante (Dante Alighieri), Boccaccio (Giovanni Boccaccio), Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli (Sandro Botticelli), Niccol� Machiavelli, Brunelleschi (Filippo Brunelleschi), Michelangelo, Donatello, Galileo Galilei, Catherine de Medici, Antonio Meucci, Guccio Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Roberto Cavalli, Florence Nightingale and Emilio Pucci.