Creative Culture: The Lessons of Florence

Abstract

The list of world historical figures from Florence, Italy, reads like a who’s who of the late medieval and Renaissance periods. Among its native born are Amerigo Vespucci (1415), after whom half the world is named; Dante Alighieri (1265), author of one of the supreme works of world literature, The Divine Comedy; Donatello (1383), one of the greatest of all sculptors; Giovanni Boccaccio (1313), author of the Decameron; Niccolo Machiavelli (1469), the first great modern political theorist; and the Medicis—Cosimo (1339), Lorenzo (1449), and Catherine (1519)—whose family dominated Florentine life for 3 centuries. In addition to natives, Florence also counts many illustrious figures who were educated and rose to prominence within its environs, including Botticelli (1444), one of the first great Renaissance painters; Brunelleschi (1377), the greatest architect of the Renaissance; Girolamo Savonarola (1452), the man of the cloth who started the original “bonfire of the vanities”; Leonardo da Vinci (1452), the prototypical Renaissance man; and Michelangelo (1475), whose works include perhaps the most famous sculpture (David) and painting (the Sistine Chapel) in the world. Although this list omits more figures than it includes, it raises a question worthy of serious attention in any age: how can a single city account for so many great figures? Why should Florence, as opposed to other Italian cities such as Milan, Venice, and Rome, represent such a fertile ground for genius? And why didn’t London, Paris, Constantinople, and some of the other cities of Europe prove equally as nurturing during this