Florence

(flör'ünz.) [It. Firenze; anc. Florentia Tuscorum.] A magnificent, city of Central Italy, and former C. of the grand duchy of Tuscany, and later (until 1872) of the Italian kingdom, lies on Fig. 328. FLORA. both sides of the Arno, 68 m. E.N.E. of Leghorn, and 187 N.W. of Rome, in a picturesque valley enclosed by the A pennines. F. is a city of palaces, po e es many fine churches, art-galleries, and libraries, and gave birth to quite a constellation of famous men-Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Cosmo and Lorenzo de Medici, Galileo, Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Benvenuto Cell in i, Giotto, Macchia vell i, Leo X., . F. early became a Roman colony under Sylla; and, after being sacked by the Goths, was restored by Charlemagne to afterward become the chief city of a republic, erected into a duchy by the Medici in 1537. From 1865 till 1872, F. was the seat of the Italian govt. Pop. 114,363. Florentine, (flor'un-teen.) [From L. Florentia, Florence.] (Geog.) A native or inhabitant of Florence, Italy; or, adjective ly, anything pertaining to that city. Flores, (flor'es,) one of the Western Islands. See AZORES. Flores, a town of Brazil, p. Goyaz, near the Parana. Pop. 3,000. an island of the Malaysian or E. Archipelago; [s. 370]