Several of the Florence hospitals are of great antiquity, the most important being that of Santa Maria Nuova, which, founded by Folco Portinari, the father of Dante's Beatrice, has been thoroughly renovated according to modern scientific principles. There are numerous other hospitals both general and special, a foundling hospital dating from the 13th century (Santa Maria degli Innocenti), an institute for the blind, one for the deaf and dumb, &c. Most of the hospitals and other charitable institutions are endowed, but the endowments are supplemented by private contributions.
Florence is the centre of a large and fertile agricultural district, and does considerable business in wine, oil and grain, and supplies the neighbouring peasantry with goods of all kinds. There are no important industries, except a few flour-mills, some glass works, iron foundries, a motor car factory, straw hat factories, and power-houses supplying electricity for lighting and for the numerous tramcars. There are, however, some artistic industries in and around the city, of which the most important is the Ginori-Richard porcelain works, and the Cantagalli majolica works. There are many other smaller establishments, and the Florentine artificer seems to possess an exceptional skill in all kinds of work in which art is combined with technical ability. Another very important source of revenue is the so-called "tourist industry," which in late years has assumed immense proportions; the city contains a large number of hotels and boarding-houses which every year are filled to overflowing with strangers from all parts of the world. (L. V.*)
Florentia was founded considerably later than Faesulae (Fiesole), which lies on the hill above it; indeed, as its name indicates, it was built only in Roman times and probably in connexion with the construction by C. Flaminius in 187 B.C. of a road from Bononia to Arretium (which later on formed part of the Via Cassia) at the point where this road crossed the river Arnus. We hear very little of it in ancient times; it appears to have suffered at the end of the war between Marius and Sulla, and in A.D. 15 (by which period it seems to have been already a colony) it successfully opposed the project of diverting part of the waters of the Clanis into the Arno (see CHIANA). Tacitus mentions it, and Florus describes it as one of the _municipia splendidissima_. A bishop of Florence is mentioned in A.D. 313. A group of Italic cremation tombs _a pozzo_ of the Villanova period were found under the pavement of the medieval Vicolo del Campidoglio. This took its name from the _Capitolium_ of Roman times, the remains of which were found under the Piazza Luna; the three _cellae_ were clearly traceable. The capitals of the columns were Corinthian, about 4 ft. in diameter, and it became clear that this temple had supplied building materials for S. Giovanni and S. Miniato. Fragments of a fine octagonal altar, probably belonging to the temple, were found. Remains of baths have been found close by, while the ancient amphitheatre has been found near S. Croce outside the Roman town, which formed a rectangle of about 400 by 600 yds., with four gates, the _Decumanus_ being represented by the Via Strozzi and Via del Corso, and the _Cardo_ by the Via Calcinara, while the Mercato Vecchio occupied the site of the Forum.