Florence, Italy - June 6, 2010

The Italian region of Tuscany is on the west side of the top of the Italian "leg". Florence is both the largest city and the capital of this region with nearly 370,000 inhabitants. The city straddles the River Arno and  is recognized historically as the cradle of the Renaissance, a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time.
Florence was established by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 80 BCE as a settlement for his veteran soldiers and was named originally Fluentia, based on the fact that it was situated between two rivers. It was built in the style of an army camp and was centered around the present Piazza della Repubblica.

Located on the main route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. During WWII Florence was occupied for a year by the Germans before being liberated by the Americans and the British.
Florentines in fact, reinvented money – in the form of the gold florin – which was instrumental in pulling Europe out of the "Dark Ages" by financing the development of industry all over Europe – from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon, to Hungary. See some of the popular Florence features here.

Chuisi

While loafing around in Castiglione, the name Chuisi was frequently encountered although, try as we might, no English speaking folk seemed to know anything about it. As is our wont, this was enough to put it squarely onto our itinerary even though it is west of where we were and our general plan was to go east. So, early on a Saturday morning, with high expectations, off we went to Chuisi. What did we find? Gasp - another ancient walled city on a rock! Being still quite early in the day we actually found a Pay and Display parking space large enough for Heidi and bought a ticket.
The origins of Chuisi are probably lost to history. The earliest known references, at which time it was already a city of some prominence, are from 600 BCE. Like so many other cities that we visited, the fortunes of Chuisi have been all over the map in the intervening centuries and it has changed "owners" (usually involuntarily) countless times. It currently houses about 8,000 souls and, if one takes the time to search out the background, it appears to have an extraordinarily interesting history. We spent an hour or so roaming round and taking a few snaps, some of which are shown below.

An ornate church interior, typical of Italian churches
A different style but fairly elaborate just the same
A simple altar in a small church
Bell tower
Another of several bell towers
Palazzo del Logge in the main square
The local fathers meeting

Looking out from Chuisi