Global Florence: The City and the World

3 credits · Undergraduate

Renaissance Florence was a city connected to many different parts of the world. It was said that everywhere one went, you would meet a Florentine. Global knowledge came to Florence and was made there. An entire continent was named after a Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci. This seminar explores the world of Florentine merchants and travelers, ca 1300-1600. It looks at the emergence of the long-distance networks connecting Florence to different parts of the Europe and the Mediterranean and their reinvention in the age of commercial and political empires that reached further into Asia, Africa, and the Americas. We will look at artifacts and do site visits to help us find the global in Florence.