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Florence is the capital of the province of Florence and of the region Tuscany in Italy. It is situated on the river Arno. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance it was a very important city, especially for its art and architecture. Florence is accepted as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and is famous with the fact that the family Medici ruled it for long time. The city is known with the name “the Athens of the Middle Ages”. The first settlement at the present day Florence was founded by Julius Caesar in 59 BC for his veteran soldiers. It was given the name Florentia (Flourishing) and was designed as an army camp. Florence is a preferred by the tourists place because of its glory of a centre of the developing of art, its cultural heritage and its role in the Renaissance and the Humanist movements. These facts make of the city one of the most worth-visiting places in the world. In fact, Florence is a small city but extremely beautiful and is a desired place for visiting by all ages visitors. In 1982 UNESCO declared Florence a World Heritage Site for its contribution in the domain of the culture. In the centre of the city there are still medieval walls, built in the 14th Century, to protect Florence during its economic growth. Santa Maria del Fiore is the architectural jewel of Florence, called also the Duomo. Its gorgeous dome was built by Filippo Brunelleschi. Nearby is the Campanile tower, partly designed by Giotto, and the Baptistery buildings. In Piazza della Signoria is the Fountain of Neptune by Bartolomeo Ammanati, a masterpiece of marble at a still functioning Roman aqueduct. One of the musts to be seen is the unique Ponte Vecchio (the Old Bridge) which most interesting feature is the number of shops, built upon its edges, held by stilts. San Lorenzo contains the Medici Chapel and the Mausoleum of the Medici family, the most powerful family in Florence between the 15th and 18th Centuries. In Florence is one of the best in the world fine art galleries – the Uffizi Gallery, founded by the last member of the Medici family. Florence is a favourite place for the novelists and the filmmakers – Hannibal, tea with Mussolini and A Room with a View are some of the masterpieces, produced partly there. The traditional cuisine in the region of Florence is based on meat.