Florence | Italy, History, Geography, & Culture | Britannica

9 of the Best Museums in Florence - Lonely Planet

Brunelleschi's Dome of Florence Cathedral | Design & Significance

Florence became the center of the Renaissance because talent found money.Botticelli needed patrons. Michelangelo needed training. Brunelleschi needed commissions. Books had to be copied. Marble had to be bought. Workshops had to be fed. A great idea still needs someone to fund the work.The Medici did not buy genius. They paid for the conditions that let genius survive long enough to matter.Their banking wealth paid for churches, convents, libraries, sculptures, paintings, and humanist learning.

Rick Steves' Art of the Renaissance