See the dazzling sights of florence from the river arno to the uffizi gallery florence has been an important city in italy since the middle ages with the immensely powerful medici family commissioning art as they made the city their own which helped to kick start the renaissancer r visit the places that famous florentines called home people like the devious machiavelli literary giant dante alighieri and sculptor michelangelo see the streets that inspired them the art donated by the medi