Timeline of Florence

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Florence, Tuscany, Italy.

The earliest timeline of Florence, the Annales florentini, was created in the 12th century.

Prior to 14th century

• 59 BCE – Roman colony founded (approximate date).
• 1st century CE – Catholic Diocese of Florence established.
• 285 – Florence becomes seat of Tuscia region.
• 405 – Siege of Florence (405).
• 541 – Florence sacked by forces of Ostrogoth Totila.
• 1078 – City walls built.
• 1080 – Stone Ponte Vecchio (bridge) built.
• 1107 – Monte Orlandi and Prato become part of Florence.
• 1115–16 – Commune form of government adopted; Republic of Florence established.
• 1128 – Florence Baptistery built.
• 1138 – "City divided into six wards."
• 1182 – Arte di Calimala (cloth guild) first mentioned (approximate date).
• 1201 – Bankers' guild active (approximate date).
• 1222 – Monte comune (pawnshop) opens.
• 1230 – allegedly occurs.
• 1237 – Ponte alle Grazie (bridge) built.
• 1244 – Venerabile Arciconfraternita della Misericordia di Firenze founded.
• 1251 – First Capitano del popolo elected.
• 1252
• Mint established; Florin (Italian coin) introduced.
• Santa Trinita bridge built.
• 1258 – Bargello built.
• 1261 – Public prison established.
• 1267 – Charles of Anjou in power.
• 1269 – Flood.
• 1282 – "Florence adopts a new system of government by members of a guild."
• 1284 – Tertio Cerchio (wall) built.
• 1285 – Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova founded.
• 1289
• Slavery abolished.
• Fire.
• 1299 – Palazzo Vecchio construction begins.

14th–16th centuries

• 1312 – Siege of Florence (1312)
• 1321 – University of Florence founded.
• 1333 – November: Flood.⁽⁾
• 1345 – Ponte Vecchio rebuilt.
• 1348 – Black Death plague.
• 1350 – October: Petrarch visits Florence and stays at Boccaccio's home.
• 1353 – Public clock installed in Palazzo Vecchio tower.
• 1355 – (church) built.
• 1360 – Cathedral Campanile built.
• 1361 – After the failed coup, Boccaccio left Florence to reside in Certaldo.
• 1361-1362 – Boccaccio composed De Mulieribus Claris (On Famous Women).
• 1370 - Boccaccio completed his last autograph manuscript of The Decameron (Ms Berliner Hamilton 90).
• 1375 – War of the Eight Saints
• 1377 – Medici in power.
• 1378-1382 – Ciompi Revolt.
• 1382 – Loggia dei Lanzi built.
• 1385 – Basilica of Santa Croce built.
• 1390-1402 – Florentine–Milanese Wars.
• 1397 – Ancient Greek teaching begins at the University of Florence.
• 1397 – Medici Bank established.
• 1401 – Ghiberti wins the competition to create the Florence Baptistry doors..
• 1403-1424 Lorenzo Ghiberti sculpted 28 reliefs for the North Doors of the Florence Baptistery
• 1415 – Bruni's History of Florence issued.
• 1415 – Cosimo de' Medici weds Contessina de' Bardi.
• 1419 – Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici commissions Filippo Brunelleschi to rebuild the Basilica of San Lorenzo.
• 1426-1428 Masaccio painted the Holy Trinity
• 1427 – Catasto tax begins.
• 1432 – Ufficiali di Notte tribunal begins.
• 1434 – 23 June: Pope Eugene IV arrives in Florence, having fled Rome.
• 1434 – 6 October: Cosimo de' Medici in power.
• 1435 – The publication of Leon Battista Alberti’s treatise De Pictura.
• 1435-1440 Donatello sculpted David (bronze) for the Medici family
• 1436 – Filippo Brunelleschi Completion of Brunelleschi’s Dome on Santa Maria del Fiore.
• 1436 – Duomo consecrated.
• 1440 – June 29: Florence wins the Battle of Anghiari.
• 1444 – Construction of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi starts.
• 1445 – Ospedale degli Innocenti formally opens.
• 1455 – The incomplete written manuscript of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s I Commentarii (Commentaries), which includes the first written biography of an artist from the Italian Renaissance
• 1464 – 1 August: Cosimo de' Medici dies.
• 1465 – March 16: Cosimo de' Medici is named Pater Patriae.
• 1469 – Lorenzo de' Medici assumes power
• 1471 – Printing press in operation.
• 1472 – Leonardo da Vinci becomes a Master Painter in Florence.
• 1476 – First performance of Terence's Andria (comedy) in Florence.
• 1478 – April 26: Pazzi conspiracy against the Medici.
• 1478 – 1 June: Pope Sixtus IV issues papal bull excommunicating Lorenzo de' Medici and Florence.
• 1478-1483 – Lucrezia Tornabuoni commissions the epic poem Morgante from Luigi Pulci.
• 1484 – January: Marsilio Ficino publishes Plato's works translated into Latin.
• 1484-1486 – Sandro Botticelli painted The Birth of Venus
• 1485 – The publication of the first printed book on architectural theory: Leon Battista Alberti’s treatise De re aedificatoria (On the Art of Building)
• 1487 – Medici giraffe arrives.
• 1488 – Ancient Greek poet Homer first published in print.
• 1490 – Palazzo Cocchi-Serristori built.
• 1492
• Lorenzo the Magnificent dies and is succeeded by Piero the Unfortunate.
• Michelangelo creates the Battle of the Centaurs relief.
• 1494
• Charles VIII of France invades the Italian peninsula.
• Piero II acquiesces to Charles VIII and is forced to flee Florence.
• Republic of Florence restored, ruled nominally by Girolamo Savonarola
• 1494 – Salone dei Cinquecento built in the Palazzo Vecchio.
• 1497 – 7 February: Bonfire of the Vanities in Florence.
• 1498
• Niccolò Machiavelli becomes secretary to the Second Chancery.
• 23 May: Savonarola executed.
• 1503 – Leonardo da Vinci begins painting a portrait of Mona Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo.
• 1504 – Michelangelo's David sculpture installed in the Piazza della Signoria.
• 1509 – Militia established.
• 1512
• Florentine Republic dissolved after defeat by Papal forces under Medici control.
• Piero Soderini and Niccolò Machiavelli exiled.
• 1513
• Giulio de Medici becomes Archbishop of Florence.
• Machiavelli publishes The Prince
• 1517 – Machiavelli publishes Discourses on Livy
• 1519 – June: the Sagrestia Nuova of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, planned.
• 1527 – 21 June: Machiavelli dies
• 1529 – 24 October: Siege of Florence (1529–30) begins.
• 1532 – Alessandro de Medici becomes duke of the Florentine Republic.
• 1536 – Charles V visits city.
• 1537
• Villani's Nuova Cronica published.
• Cosimo I moves into the Palazzo della Signoria.
• Giorgio Vasari was commissioned by Cosimo I to expand and redesign the Palazzo della Signoria (Palazzo Vecchio)
• March 29, 1539 – Cosimo I de' Medici marries Eleanor of Toledo.
• 1545 – Orto Botanico di Firenze established.
• 1549 – Eleanor of Toledo purchases the Pitti Palace.
• 1550 – the Medici ducal family moves into the Palazzo Pitti.
• 1550 – The publication of Vasari’s Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
• 1557 – September: Flood.⁽⁾
• 1559 – Palazzo Uguccioni built.
• 1560-1581 – The building of Galleria degli Uffizi was initiated by Giorgio Vasari.
• 1562 – Accademia del Disegno established.
• 1564 – Vasari Corridor built.
• 1565 – Fountain of Neptune inaugurated.
• 1569 – Ponte Santa Trinita (bridge) rebuilt.
• 1569 – late August: Cosimo I de' Medici becomes the first Grand Duke of Tuscany.
• 1570-1574 – Giorgio Vasari begins The Last Judgement frescoes in the dome of Florence Cathedral; completed by Federico Zuccari.
• 1573 – 14 January: First meeting of the Florentine Camerata.
• 1580 – Rules of Calcio Fiorentino sport published.
• 1581 – Uffizi art museum built.
• 1582 – State Archives of Tuscany established.
• 1592 – Theorbo musical instrument invented.
• 1598 – Premiere of Peri's opera Dafne.
• 1600
• 5 October: .
• Biblioteca Riccardiana founded (approximate date).
• Premiere of Peri's opera Euridice.

17th–19th centuries

• 1625 – Premiere of Francesca Caccini's opera La liberazione di Ruggiero.
• 1656 – Teatro della Pergola built.
• 1700 – Fortepiano musical instrument prototyped.
• 1739 – Academia Botanica established.
• 1740 – Teatro di Santa Maria built.
• 1753 – Accademia dei Georgofili established.
• 1775 – Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze established.
• 1784 – Galleria dell'Accademia established.
• 1799 – French occupation begins.
• 1814
• French occupation ends.
• Jewish ghetto abolished.
• 1817 – Teatro Goldoni opens.
• 1828 – Teatro Alfieri opens.
• 1844 – 3 November: .
• 1847 – Premiere of Verdi's opera Macbeth.
• 1848
• Prato-Florence railway begins operating.
• Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station opens.
• 1852 – State Archives of Florence established.
• 1859 – La Nazione newspaper begins publication.
• 1861
• National Library active.
• Population: 150,864.
• 1862 – Politeama Fiorentino Vittorio Emanuele amphitheatre opens.
• 1864 – Florence becomes part of Italy.
• 1865 – Italian capital relocated to Florence from Turin.
• 1867 – Società Geografica Italiana headquartered in Florence.
• 1871
• Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali built.
• Population: 167,093.
• 1879 – Horse-drawn tram begins operating.
• 1882 – Great Synagogue of Florence built.
• 1891 – Cathedral Museum opens.
• 1896 – Firenze Campo di Marte railway station opens.
• 1897
• Leo S. Olschki Editore in business.
• Population: 209,540.

20th century

• 1901 – Population: 236,635.
• 1904 – Giardino Tropicale established.
• 1908 – La Voce magazine begins publication.
• 1922 – Cinema Teatro Savoia opens.
• 1925 – ' newspaper begins publication.
• 1926 – (church) built.
• 1931 – Population: 304,160.
• 1933 – Maggio Musicale Fiorentino begins.
• 1934 – Bologna–Florence railway begins operating.
• 1936 – Cinema Vittoria built.
• 1943
• German occupation begins.
• 25 September: Aerial bombing by Allied forces.
• 1944
• 3 August: Bridges bombed by German forces.
• 11 August: German occupation ends.
• 1948 – Ponte alla Carraia (bridge) rebuilt.
• 1954 – 27 October:
• 1957 – Ponte Amerigo Vespucci (bridge) built.
• 1959 – Giardino dell'Iris (garden) established.
• 1961 – Population: 436,516.
• 1966 – 4 November: 1966 Flood of the Arno River.
• 1968 – (hospital) built.
• 1977 – Florence–Rome high-speed railway begins operating.
• 1978 – Indiano Bridge built.
• 1982 – Historic Centre of Florence designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• 1986 – Gran Caffè Doney closes.
• 1991 – Population: 403,294.
• 1993 – 27 May: Via dei Georgofili bombing.
• 1995 – European Rapid Operational Force headquartered in Florence.
• 1997 – City website online (approximate date).