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Buildings began to accumulate around the Roman military camp, including an aqueduct (from Monte Morello), a forum (in today's Piazza della Repubblica), spas, the Roman Theatre of Florence, and the Roman Amphitheatre of Florence, while the surrounding land was organized by centuriation. A nearby river port allowed trade up to Pisa.
Florence, Piazza del Mercato Vecchio (1555), fresco by Stradanus, Palazzo Vecchio, Sala di Gualdrada. The Italian Renaissance was remarkable in economic development. Venice and Genoa were the trade pioneers, first as maritime republics and then as regional states, followed by Milan, Florence, and the rest of northern Italy.
The city of Florence was established in 59 BC by Julius Caesar. Since 846 AD, the city had been part of the Marquisate of Tuscany. After Margravine Matilda of Tuscany died in 1115, the city did not submit readily to her successor, Rabodo (r. 1116–1119), who was killed in a dispute with the city.
Trade in the early Roman Empire allowed Rome to become as vast and great as it did. Emperor Augustus , despite his intense public and private spending, took control of trade from the government and expanded Roman influence by opening new trading markets in overseas areas such as Britain , Germany , and Africa . [ 53 ]
The first de facto Lord (Italian: Signore) in the history of the Republic of Florence was Cosimo de' Medici.Thanks to his moderate policy, Cosimo managed to maintain power for over thirty years until his death, ruling the state silently through his trusted men and thus allowing the consolidation of his family, the Medici, in the government of Florence.
The Medici became the town's leading family, a position they would hold for the next three centuries. Florence organized the trade routes for commodities between England and the Netherlands, France, and Italy. By the middle of the century, the city had become the banking capital of Europe and thereby obtained vast riches. [32]
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By the year 1300 Florence had become a centre of textile production in Europe. Many of the rich families in Renaissance Florence were major purchasers of locally produced fine clothing, and the specialists of fashion in the economy and culture of Florence during that period is often underestimated. [101]