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Florence ­ a Renaissance city

In 1400 Florence was the richest city in Italy. The inhabitants made their money from the wool trade and from banking.

  • Merchants from Florence travelled around Europe buying high-quality

wool. They brought it back to Florence where local people wove it into fine woollen cloth and dyed it in brilliant colours. Then the merchants sold the woollen cloth to the kings and nobles of Europe and made a great deal of money.

  • To help their trade, merchants from Florence became bankers. It was

dangerous to carry gold and silver coins, so they invented Bills of exchange. (Today we call them cheques!) They opened banks in many cities and lent money to kings and popes. Banking helped them make more money.

Florentines were very proud of their city. Because they were so rich, they could afford to pay the best architects, painters and sculptors to make it beautiful.

 

 

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