Lesson 8:
Historic centres
In most cases, the main Italian city centres are a complex mix of different development phases: so in some of them, you might see some Roman foundation, a middle-age expansion, and the Renaissance splendid private buildings and churches. All of these are still well preserved, and they have been included in nowadays new structures.
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FlorenceIts 600 years of extraordinary artistic activity can be seen above all in the 13th-century cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), the Church of Santa Croce, the Uffizi, and the Pitti Palace, the work of great masters such as Giotto, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, and Michelangelo. Florence is history, tradition, art and culture. As Stendhal described it, the Capital of Tuscany possesses a “subtle charm” and boasts a historical-artistic legacy known throughout the world. Its historic centre is a living archive of European and Italian culture, composed of properties that earned Florence’s nomination as one of the first Italian UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1982.
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NaplesVisiting Naples’s historic centre means travelling through twenty centuries of history. The design of its streets, piazzas, churches, monuments and public buildings and castles constitute a jewel box of artistic and historical treasures of exceptional importance, so much so that together, they earned their spot on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995. Extending over 720 hectares, the historic centre of Naples is the largest historic centre in all of Europe and includes testimonies from diverse styles and periods – from its foundation in the 8th Century B.C. as the Greek colony Neapolis, to its subsequent domination by the Romans, and from the Swabian-Norman era to the Reign of the Anjous, and finally from its time under the Aragonese Empire, the Kings of France, to the period of Unification under Garibaldi and the resulting Kingdom of Italy.
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RomeThe historic centre of Rome and the Holy See (including the Vatican and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls) make up one of the 55 Italian sites inserted in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Legend holds that Romulus and Remus founded Rome in 753 B.C. – the mythical image of the two brothers suckled by the she-wolf, other than the Colosseum, has become the iconographic symbol for the Capital. Yet what has truly made Rome the legendary city that it is, is its history: the epicentre of the Roman Republic, then the Roman Empire’s hub for political and cultural life, and finally, in the 4th Century, the realm of Christianity.
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San GimignanoIn the sun-drenched Sienese hills of the Val d’Elsa stands the gorgeous hilltown of San Gimignano, a splendorous Medieval atmosphere enwrapped by its 13th-Century wall. The Tuscany that tourists love most is set amidst fields of golden grain, vineyards, and ancient borgoes; it is the Tuscany of Chianti and the Val D’Orcia, of beloved culinary traditions and singular tastes. “A masterpiece of creative human genius, it is a unique testimony to a past civilization, and as an exceptional exemplar of both architectonic complex and landscape, demonstrates significant passages in human history.” It is for such qualities that San Gimignano earned its place on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1990.
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SienaNestled within the Tuscan hills, Siena has long maintained its lovely and unique appearance, as it does today: as the truest of cliches go, Siena is one of those places where it seems time stopped in the 13th Century, the period when it began to develop its immense artistic and architectural legacy. Such a legacy is what lends to Siena all its beauty and glory. It would seem that the personnel at UNESCO also thought so, naming Siena a World Heritage Site in 1995, having appreciated that this extraordinary Medieval city has preserved its characteristics and qualities for so many centuries.
- City of Pienza
Pienza – the City of Pius. This pleasant city, situated in Val D’Orcia’s heart (near Siena, in Tuscany), is considered to be the incarnation of a Renaissance utopia and an ideal city. Having obtained recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, today it continues to show off to the world its refined and sophisticated Renaissance urban plan: its spaces and perspective onto its 15th-Century piazzas and palazzi are organized according to the era’s ideals of rationality and humanism. Pienza was realised by the request of Pope Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), from whom the city’s name derives. Upon being named Pope in 1458, Pius began to dream up a new design for his native town and entrusted his dream with Bernardo di Matteo Gambardelli, an apprentice of the famous architect and scientist Leon Battista Alberti. Construction on the city (between 1458 and 1462), comprised the ancient borgo of Corsignano; legend has it that a soldier from Sillano, called Corsinio, founded the original town. -
UrbinoImmersed within the Marches’ gently rolling hills, amidst the Metauro and Foglia Valleys lies Urbino, a city rich in history and art. It is so easy to lose oneself in this jewel of a city, walking its streets and sidestreets with your eyes geared up toward its magnificent palazzi. Surrounded by an expansive city (brick and sandstone) wall, Urbino was once a simple village whose historic centre became the “Cradle of the Renaissance.” Still today, it is almost as if we can breathe the scent of the 14th Century in its very air. With its Renaissance character, Urbino earned its place on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.
