Working as a private tour guide in Florence, the historical centre is my office. What I find increasingly fascinating about this city, the humanist capital of Europe in the 15th century, is that one is always reminded of how great man can be, and what he can achieve. In our throwaway society of today, which is in constant flux and renewal, priority is, more often than not, given to instant gratification rather than a long-reaching vision. But in Florence there is a wonderful sensation of the eternal and the ever-lasting.
To be sure, man has always been, and will always be, ambitious, powerhungry and in constant search of ways to cheat immortality, and the fabric of Florence was built on desires such as these, no different to today. The banking and wool manufacturing magnate families of the 14th and 15th century in Florence were ruthless and cunning, but they knew that they were doing business and making money and were part of the structuring of a republic that very few others had achieved since ancient times.
POWERFUL FAMILIES
There was certainly a move towards individualism during this humanist period, but at the same time civic pride and public virtue were being reborn and were strongly felt. These families’ statements of wealth, such as the construction of their palatial merchant homes and the enormous donations they made to the religious orders, were for a threefold reason: a self-conscious display of material wealth for self promotion and status; an attempt to create a balance sheet by offsetting their earthly gain and practice of usury for a fast-track to heaven; and the new way of viewing man’s place and increased importance in the world. Florence is the epicentre of the rediscovery of man’s capacity.
