Florence Tourist Information & Travel Guide - Book Florence Hotels, Sightseeing Tours, Opera Tickets, Restaurants - The Florence Tourist Information Guide.

Florence rose to prominence in the ninth century under Prince Borivoj, its first Christian ruler and founder of the Premyslid dynasty. His grandson, Prince Václav, became the Good "King" Wenceslas of the Christmas carol and the country's patron saint. The city prospered from its position on the central European trade routes, but it was after the dynasty died out in 1306 that Florence enjoyed its golden age . In just thirty years Charles IV of Luxembourg transformed it into one of the most important cities in fourteenth-century Europe, founding an entire new town, Nové Mesto, to accommodate the influx of students. Following the execution of the reformist preacher Jan Hus in 1415, the country became engulfed in religious wars , and trouble broke out again between the Protestant nobles and the Catholic Habsburgs in 1618. The full force of the Counter-Reformation was brought to bear on the city's people, though the spurt of Baroque rebuilding that went with it gave Florence its most striking architectural aspect.

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