Florence is the capital of a province of the same name, and the central government is represented by a prefect (_prefetto_), while local government is carried on by a mayor (_sindaco_) and an elective town council (_consiglio comunale_). The city is the seat of a court of cassation (for civil cases only), of a court of appeal, besides minor tribunals. It is the headquarters of an army corps, and an archiepiscopal see.
There are 22 public elementary schools for boys and 18 for girls (education being compulsory and gratuitous), with about 20,000 pupils, and 56 private schools with 5700 pupils. Secondary education is provided by one higher and four lower technical schools with 1375 pupils, three _ginnasii_ or lower classical schools, and three _licei_ or higher classical schools, with 1000 pupils, and three training colleges with over 700 pupils. Higher education is imparted at the university (_Istituto di studii superiori e di perfezionamento_), with 600 to 650 students; although only comprising the faculties of literature, medicine and natural science, it is, as regards the first-named faculty, one of the most important institutions in Italy. The original _Studio Fiorentino_ was founded in the 14th century, and acquired considerable fame as a centre of learning under the Medici, enhanced by the presence in Florence of many learned Greeks who had fled from Constantinople after its capture by the Turks (1453). Although in 1472 some of the faculties and several of the professors were transferred to Pisa, it still retained importance, and in the 17th and 18th centuries it originated a number of learned academies. In 1859 after the annexation of Tuscany to the Italian kingdom it was revived and reorganized; since then it has become to some extent a national centre of learning and culture, attracting students from other parts of Italy, partly on account of the fact that it is in Florence that the purest Italian is spoken. The revival of classical studies on scientific principles in modern Italy may be said to have begun in Florence, and great activity has also been displayed in reviving the study of Dante; Dante lectures being given regularly by scholars and men of letters from all parts of the country, above the church of Or San Michele as in the middle ages, under the auspices of the _Società Dantesca_. Palaeography, history and Romance languages are among the other subjects to which especial importance is given. Besides the _Istituto di studii superiori_ there is the _Istituto di scienze sociali_ "_Cesare Alfieri_," founded by the marchese Alfieri di Sostegno for the education of aspirants to the diplomatic and consular services, and for students of economics and social sciences (about 50 students); an academy of fine arts, a conservatoire of music, a higher female training-college with 150 students, a number of professional and trade schools, and an academy of recitation. There are also many academies and learned societies of different kinds, of which one of the most important is the _Accademia della Crusca_ for the study of the Italian language, which undertook the publication of a monumental dictionary.