USEFUL INFORMATION

Florence streets can be one name at one end of the street and another name at the other end. For example, Via Martelli is the street leading away from Piazza del Duomo then at the first intersection it turns into Via Cavour.

Florence is the capital city of the province of Florence and the Italian region of Tuscany.

Via Chiantigiana is the most beautiful road in all of Italy. Winding through the vineyards and woodlands surrounding Florence connecting to Siena.

Fiasco is an Italian word referring to a glass bottle or flask with a long neck. According to the Oxford English dictionary fiasco--meaning a failure or complete breakdown--comes from the Italian expression fare fiasco, to make a bottle. Nobody knows how this Italian expression came to be in the English language. Today, old trattorie are still called fiaschetteria--working men's taverns. Back in the day was known as taverns with hearty, cheap Tuscan wines and later for a more homey Tuscan specialities that paired with the wines.

How do the Italians really eat pasta? The correct technique involves piercing some pasta near the edge of the bowl, not in the center but at the twelve o'clock position, then twirling the pasta around the fork against the rim of the bowl.

In 1339, Florence became the first city in Europe with paved streets.

Florence was home to the infamous Medici family from the 14^th century to the 18th century. Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolo Machievelli, Galileo Galilei, Amerigo Vespucci, Donatello, Raffaele, Roberto Cavalli, and Guccio Gucci, fashion designer and Gucci fashion was founded in Florence 1921.

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was the first state to abolish capital punishment in November 1786.

What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the first years of the 14th century through the works of Dante Alighieri, who mixed southern Italian languages, especially Sicilian, with his native Florentine in his epic poems known collectively as theDivine Comedy. Dante's much-loved works were read throughout Italy and his written dialect became the standard that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language and, thus, the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy.

Florence is best known for leather and gold