{"id":1100,"date":"2016-12-07T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T10:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/?p=1100"},"modified":"2025-01-16T10:49:01","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T10:49:01","slug":"10-little-known-facts-about-florence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/10-little-known-facts-about-florence\/","title":{"rendered":"10 little-known facts about Florence"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p><style type=\"text\/css\">&lt;!-- p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right; font: 11.0px Helvetica; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; min-height: 13.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} --><\/style><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Florence is known all over the world for its art, culture and architecture. We\u2019ve strayed from the beaten track (a.k.a Ponte Vecchio bridge) to uncover some little-known facts about this wonderful Italian city.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><b>First European Pavements<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>All roads might lead to Rome, but Florence was the first European city to have paved streets \u2014back in 1339. However, as the street names are particularly confusing we recommend installing a decent city map on your phone in order to get around.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><b>Fish Skin Shoes<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum contains over 10,000 pairs of shoes created by the eponymous fashion designer (and later expanded by his widow and children). Keep an eye out for the designs created using dyed fish skins.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><b>Unique Florence Dialect<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Florence has its own unique language &#8211; Florentine &#8211; which is a Tuscan dialect spoken in the city and its suburbs. Interestingly, the language is the parent language of modern Italian.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><b>Famous Inhabitants<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Florence Nightingale was born in Florence in 1820, and the original non-Disney Pinocchio also came from the city \u2014 author Carlo Lorenzini was born in Florence.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><b>Birthplace of the Piano<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Bartolomeo Cristofor invented the pianoforte in Florence somewhere between 1700-1720. Derived from the harpsichord, it\u2019s the predecessor of today\u2019s much-loved musical instrument.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><b>\u2026and Opera<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Opera was invented in Florence at some point in the late 16th century, and it soon became a popular entertainment choice for Florentine nobles. The first complete opera \u2014 Euridice, by Jacopo Peri \u2014 was performed in 1600 at the wedding of Maria de\u2019 Medici and Henry IV of France.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><b>Lions, Giraffes and Hippos<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Between the 13th and 18th centuries, lions were kept in a den in front of the Duomo (to entertain citizens, obviously). The Medici family also kept giraffes in the squares \u2014 they would regularly escape and wander the streets before being caught again \u2014 and a hippo in the Boboli Gardens.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><b>The November 4th Floods\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Florence has had two major floods in its history \u2014 one on November 4, 1333 and November 4, 1966. Luckily they\u2019re 633 years apart, so we reckon you\u2019re safe for another six hundred years or so.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><b>Science Museum<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Opened in 1775, La Specola is one of the oldest science museums opened to the public. Nowadays, it contains a vast collection of taxidermy animals and anatomical waxes. It\u2019s certainly more unusual than Madame Tussaud\u2019s\u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><b>One is not Amused<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In 1857 Queen Victoria received a twenty-foot tall plaster replica of the famous David statue; she was so unimpressed by the vulgarity of the display that a plaster fig leaf was commissioned to strategically cover the artwork. Both artefacts are now on display at the V&amp;A museum in London.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florence is known all over the world for its art, culture and architecture. We\u2019ve strayed from the beaten track (a.k.a Ponte Vecchio bridge) to uncover some little-known facts about this wonderful Italian city. First European Pavements All roads might lead to Rome, but Florence was the first European city to have paved streets \u2014back in 1339. However, as the street names are particularly confusing we recommend installing a decent city map on your phone in order to get around. Fish Skin Shoes The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum contains over 10,000 pairs of shoes created by the eponymous fashion designer (and later expanded by his widow and children). Keep an eye out for the designs created using dyed fish skins. Unique Florence Dialect Florence has its own unique language &#8211; Florentine &#8211; which is a Tuscan dialect spoken in the city and its suburbs. Interestingly, the language is the parent language of modern Italian. Famous Inhabitants Florence Nightingale was born in Florence in 1820, and the original non-Disney Pinocchio also came from the city \u2014 author Carlo Lorenzini was born in Florence. Birthplace of the Piano Bartolomeo Cristofor invented the pianoforte in Florence somewhere between 1700-1720. Derived from the harpsichord, it\u2019s the predecessor of today\u2019s much-loved musical instrument. \u2026and Opera Opera was invented in Florence at some point in the late 16th century, and it soon became a popular entertainment choice for Florentine nobles. The first complete opera \u2014 Euridice, by Jacopo Peri \u2014 was performed in 1600 at the wedding of Maria de\u2019 Medici and Henry IV of France. Lions, Giraffes and Hippos Between the 13th and 18th centuries, lions were kept in a den in front of the Duomo (to entertain citizens, obviously). The Medici family also kept giraffes in the squares \u2014 they would regularly escape and wander the streets before being caught again \u2014 and a hippo in the Boboli Gardens. The November 4th Floods\u00a0 Florence has had two major floods in its history \u2014 one on November 4, 1333 and November 4, 1966. Luckily they\u2019re 633 years apart, so we reckon you\u2019re safe for another six hundred years or so. Science Museum Opened in 1775, La Specola is one of the oldest science museums opened to the public. Nowadays, it contains a vast collection of taxidermy animals and anatomical waxes. It\u2019s certainly more unusual than Madame Tussaud\u2019s\u2026 One is not Amused In 1857 Queen Victoria received a twenty-foot tall plaster replica of the famous David statue; she was so unimpressed by the vulgarity of the display that a plaster fig leaf was commissioned to strategically cover the artwork. Both artefacts are now on display at the V&amp;A museum in London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-right-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[411,173,404],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-italy","category-tuscany-italy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>10 little-known facts about Florence - Blog by Bookings For You<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover our fascinating Florence facts from our Italy-obsessed team at Bookings For you - Italy experts offering hand-picked villas for you.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/10-little-known-facts-about-florence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 little-known facts about Florence - Blog by Bookings For You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover our fascinating Florence facts from our Italy-obsessed team at Bookings For you - Italy experts offering hand-picked villas for you.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/10-little-known-facts-about-florence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog by Bookings For You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-07T10:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-16T10:49:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2016\/12\/florence-336264_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"860\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lucy Mackay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lucy Mackay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/10-little-known-facts-about-florence\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/10-little-known-facts-about-florence\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lucy Mackay\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/699653fb5b9eacaa02273b8988a74bb8\"},\"headline\":\"10 little-known facts about Florence\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-07T10:00:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-16T10:49:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/10-little-known-facts-about-florence\/\"},\"wordCount\":441,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/10-little-known-facts-about-florence\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2016\/12\/florence-336264_1280.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Inspiration\",\"Italy\",\"Tuscany\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/10-little-known-facts-about-florence\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/10-little-known-facts-about-florence\/\",\"name\":\"10 little-known facts about Florence - 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