We recently visited Rome. This visit will move northward and westward from there, around the coast of the Ligurian Sea and to the French border with Italy.
Terni is a city of Roman origin and has more recently been known for the manufacture of steel. These two scenes of the old part of Terni are from Google Earth.
There is a Roman amphitheater and the Sixteenth-Century Palazzo Spada is now the town hall of Terni and the following scenes begin there.
There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.561081,12.6469099,3a,75y,306.36h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0iegOumfZybhxOlEi7luPw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D0iegOumfZybhxOlEi7luPw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D314.98148%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
The next city is Perugia, in the region north of Rome known as Umbria. Before the Romans were the Etruscans. This is where the name of Tuscany comes from. Some of the walls that the Etruscans built around the city still remain.
There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.561081,12.6469099,3a,75y,306.36h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0iegOumfZybhxOlEi7luPw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D0iegOumfZybhxOlEi7luPw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D314.98148%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
The next city is Perugia, in the region north of Rome known as Umbria. Before the Romans were the Etruscans. This is where the name of Tuscany comes from. Some of the walls that the Etruscans built around the city still remain.
This first scene of Perugia, from Google Earth, shows the cathedral in the foreground and the Priori Palace in the background.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1111401,12.3886752,3a,75y,133h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPPQAQfrwS6TBDV2bMGbJiPlLFCcKBgHyQgc0Pr!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPPQAQfrwS6TBDV2bMGbJiPlLFCcKBgHyQgc0Pr%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya164.17653-ro0-fo100!7i4000!8i2000
It is sometimes a city other than the capital city that best-represents what a country is all about. There is Kyoto in Japan, Hue in Vietnam, Aachen in Germany, Novgorod in Russia and Xian, Nanjing and, Hangzhou in China.
And then there is Florence in Italy.
Julius Caesar established Florence. It is the capital city of Tuscany, the region named for the Etruscans. But it is best-known as the city of the Renaissance.
"Renaissance" is a French word meaning "rebirth". After the end of the Roman Empire, the eastern half of the empire continued on as Byzantium. The Roman emperor Constantine, who legalized Christianity, founded the namesake city of Constantinople. Much of the knowledge gained by the Romans, and the Greeks before them, was lost to western Europe. But it continued on in the east and was greatly added to by Moslems.
In 1453 the Ottomans, who were Moslems, conquered Constantinople. Many Christian scholars collected manuscripts that contained all manner of knowledge, put them on pack animals, and headed westward. The rediscovery of this knowledge brought about the great rebirth known as the Renaissance, and at the very center of that rebirth was the city of Florence.
The height of Florence was the 14th to the 16th Centuries. The transition from medieval to Renaissance art involved mathematical concepts such as linear perspective. The art was also more humanist. Florence was where the transition from Latin to the modern Italian language began. Renaissance Florence was also the birthplace of Opera.
The new knowledge of the Renaissance had an especially great influence on architecture. Gothic cathedrals had supports outside the walls, known as buttresses, that supported much of the weight of the roof. This meant that the walls did not have to be as massive as previously, and this is what made large stained glass windows possible. The older style of architecture, with the massive walls that were necessary to support the roof, was known as Romanesque. But the Renaissance brought back the mathematical knowledge necessary to build great domes. This led to Baroque architecture, cathedrals such as St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London, the signature feature of which were their domes.
Michelangelo, who painted the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, sculpted the Pieta and contributed so much to the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, all in Rome, was actually a native of Florence and made no secret of the fact that he considered it as culturally superior to Rome.
Christopher Columbus was from Genoa but did you know that his idea of reaching the east by sailing westward actually originated in the Florence of the Renaissance, with an astronomer by the name of Toscanelli?
Amerigo Vespucci was from Florence. Columbus thought that he had landed in Asia, which is why Native Americans are called "Indians". Amerigo Vespucci was the one to realize that North and South America were two separate continents, and he got them named for him.
Florence is not just about history. It was a center of textile manufacture in medieval times and became a modern industrial city later. It was also an early banking and financial hub known for it's famous currency which was called the Florin.
To understand the history of Florence it is necessary to understand the Medici family. This was a family who gained nobility status, earning it's fortune in textiles and then starting a bank that funded much of what developed during the Renaissance. Four popes were from the Medici family. But this, along with popes being from the wealthy Borgia family in Rome, was upsetting people in northern Europe, who felt that such wealthy families were being allowed to "buy" the papacy, and this would be one of the factors in bringing about the Reformation.
There is an interesting "French Connection" to the Medici family. We saw in "The Three Crowns And Fleur De Lis" January 2024, my hypothesis that the widespread symbol of the Three Crowns must be of Viking origin. It is a very old and widespread symbol but is a mystery of exactly how it originated. My conclusion was that it's geographical distribution matched that of Viking territories.
Furthermore, the Normans that settled in northern France were a branch of the Vikings and the symbol was, after their landing, always seen in the French monarchy coats of arms, with the same pattern but fleur-de-lis instead of crowns. The Normans later controlled southern Italy and, although their area of conquest did not extend northward to Florence, the three fleur-de-lis in the same pattern can be seen on the Medici family coat of arms, and two Medici women would become French queens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Medici#/media/File:Augmented_Arms_of_Medici.svg
Florence was also home to the writer Niccolo Machiavelli. His famous treatise on politics is called "The Prince". His philosophy seems to many readers to come down to "doing whatever it takes to rule". Some, depending on one's perspective, take Machiavelli as being the inventor of the idea of dictatorship.
But anyway, the Renaissance city of Florence that resulted can only be described as absolutely magnificent. The sectioned dome on Florence's cathedral, the Duomo, is made of brick and can be considered as the initial great dome of the Renaissance, the Baroque style of architecture. There was the dome of the Roman Pantheon, in ancient times, and the dome of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, but the mathematics necessary to build such a dome that would last had been forgotten. This dome in Florence represents it's recovery.
Florence is not just about history. It was a center of textile manufacture in medieval times and became a modern industrial city later. It was also an early banking and financial hub known for it's famous currency which was called the Florin.
To understand the history of Florence it is necessary to understand the Medici family. This was a family who gained nobility status, earning it's fortune in textiles and then starting a bank that funded much of what developed during the Renaissance. Four popes were from the Medici family. But this, along with popes being from the wealthy Borgia family in Rome, was upsetting people in northern Europe, who felt that such wealthy families were being allowed to "buy" the papacy, and this would be one of the factors in bringing about the Reformation.
There is an interesting "French Connection" to the Medici family. We saw in "The Three Crowns And Fleur De Lis" January 2024, my hypothesis that the widespread symbol of the Three Crowns must be of Viking origin. It is a very old and widespread symbol but is a mystery of exactly how it originated. My conclusion was that it's geographical distribution matched that of Viking territories.
Furthermore, the Normans that settled in northern France were a branch of the Vikings and the symbol was, after their landing, always seen in the French monarchy coats of arms, with the same pattern but fleur-de-lis instead of crowns. The Normans later controlled southern Italy and, although their area of conquest did not extend northward to Florence, the three fleur-de-lis in the same pattern can be seen on the Medici family coat of arms, and two Medici women would become French queens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Medici#/media/File:Augmented_Arms_of_Medici.svg
Florence was also home to the writer Niccolo Machiavelli. His famous treatise on politics is called "The Prince". His philosophy seems to many readers to come down to "doing whatever it takes to rule". Some, depending on one's perspective, take Machiavelli as being the inventor of the idea of dictatorship.
But anyway, the Renaissance city of Florence that resulted can only be described as absolutely magnificent. The sectioned dome on Florence's cathedral, the Duomo, is made of brick and can be considered as the initial great dome of the Renaissance, the Baroque style of architecture. There was the dome of the Roman Pantheon, in ancient times, and the dome of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, but the mathematics necessary to build such a dome that would last had been forgotten. This dome in Florence represents it's recovery.
These first four images of the Duomo are from Google Earth. The white octagonal structure in front of it is the Baptistery.
Other than the red-domed cathedral, there is a square with a large stone building. This building in the Piazza Della Signora is the 14th Century palace of what was the Florentine Republic. It is now the city hall of Florence. This first view of it is from Google Earth.
The Reformation is generally considered as having begun with Martin Luther in what is now Germany. But it was not an original idea. Before Luther there was Giralamo Savonarola. He was martyred in this square for incessantly criticizing the church and the "buying" of the papacy by wealthy families.
Another square in central Florence is the Piazza Della Repubblica. There is a triumphal archway there. This was the center of Italy's government after the unification of the country in the late Nineteenth Century. This first view of it is from Google Earth.
Another square in central Florence is the Piazza Della Repubblica. There is a triumphal archway there. This was the center of Italy's government after the unification of the country in the late Nineteenth Century. This first view of it is from Google Earth.
Rome was actually the final place to be added to the country. Before Rome, the capital city was first Turin, and then Florence.
The bridge with the buildings actually on the bridge is the Ponte Vecchio, seen in the first image from Google Earth.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.773191,11.2554202,3a,75y,60.19h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sBd0kB8h06zfxsD1TyNmtEA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DBd0kB8h06zfxsD1TyNmtEA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D51.568546%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
This is more of Florence. Some of the scenes are actually of Pisa.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7816158,11.2599911,3a,75y,120h,100t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sEY0jBlDimCBQsvT70s5vEg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DEY0jBlDimCBQsvT70s5vEg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D120%26pitch%3D-10%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
Pisa, in Tuscany, is downstream on the Arno River from Florence. Pisa was one of the maritime powers of Renaissance times, long before there was a united Italy. Pisa's rival powers in what is now Italy were Genoa, Venice and Amalfi, in the south.
Pisa is best-known for it's "Leaning Tower". It is in the same square with Pisa's cathedral and baptisery, and the leaning bell tower is the newest of the three buildings. There is a cemetery in soil that was brought back from the Holy Land during the Crusades.
These first four images of Pisa Cathedral, Baptistery and the Leaning Tower are from Google Earth and Street View. The cylindrical structure in front of the cathedral is the Baptistery.
Galileo was a native of Pisa and one of those legends about scientific discoveries, that we cannot be sure just how true it is, is that Galileo got the idea for a pendulum that would drive a clock by the swinging of the lamp in the cathedral.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7193977,10.400095,3a,75y,136.43h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s7cZ6wU7_6NVls5gWLkB-FQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D7cZ6wU7_6NVls5gWLkB-FQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D145.49483%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
Livorno, known as Leghorn in English, became a primary port after maritime access to Pisa silted up. There is an old and a new town in Livorno, each built around a fortress. The fortresses were built several decades apart. The older one was built in 1534. The first of the following two scenes, from Google Earth and Street View, are of the Old Fortress. The third scene, from Google Earth, is of the New Fortress in the foreground and Old Fortress in the background, both indicated by white dots.
Here is the newer fortress.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5567622,10.3129735,3a,75y,148.37h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sSG1hvQpCWoZO33xEdhZHKw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DSG1hvQpCWoZO33xEdhZHKw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D155.94731%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
This is some of the rest of the city.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5457145,10.3071269,3a,75y,228.89h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s-PwHIP2QLZbjVZ1danooEQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D-PwHIP2QLZbjVZ1danooEQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D219.71355%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
La Spezia is another port city on the coast of the Ligurian Sea. The first scene, from Google Earth, is of St. George's Castle with the city in the background.
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.1038949,9.8215871,3a,75y,285.16h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4spp9LfnUx1sF9Ju4KJOsg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D4spp9LfnUx1sF9Ju4KJOsg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D290.66937%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
In the days when what is now Italy consisted of several rival maritime powers, Genoa was a great rival of Venice. Genoa was a financial banking, arts and literature center to rival Florence, but it was also a naval power. The Republic of Genoa lasted nearly 800 years as a self-governing city-state within the Holy Roman Empire.
Monaco, with the famous district of Monte Carlo, began as a fortress westward along the coast from Genoa. The fortress was used by rival families of the nobility in Genoa. One of those was the Grimaldi family. The fortress would become Monaco, and the Grimaldi family has been there since the Thirteenth Century. They still rule Monaco today from the same fortress, which has been their palace ever since.
These two scenes, from Google Earth and Street View, are of the hillside apartment buildings in Genoa.
Here is the original city of Genoa, beginning with it's famous alleys.
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4094129,8.9313377,3a,75y,72.83h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sHhIK_lIK19UApYI0PTtvew!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DHhIK_lIK19UApYI0PTtvew%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D66.61312%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
This is around the modern business district of Genoa. The first scene is from Google Earth.
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4093265,8.899707,3a,75y,87.69h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s5v6g0P2hLoHUzNtlGo3kvw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D5v6g0P2hLoHUzNtlGo3kvw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D86.76312%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
Finally, we come to Savona. Christopher Columbus was from Genoa but lived here for much of his youth. The Priamar Fortress was built by Genoa after it's conquest of Savona. The first scene, from Google Earth, is of the fortress in the foreground and the city in the background.
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