- Amerigo Vespucci
'Amerigo Vespucci (March 9, 1454 -February 22, 1512) was an Italian merchant, explorer and cartographer. He played a senior role in two voyages which explored the east coast of South America between 1499 and 1502. On the second of these voyages he discovered that South America extended much further south than previously known by Europeans. This convinced him that this land was part of a new continent, …
- Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, better known as Dante Alighieri or simply Dante, (May 14/June 13 1265 - September 13/14, 1321) was an Italian poet from Florence. His central work, the "Commedia" ("The Divine Comedy"), is considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature. In Italian he is known as "the Supreme Poet" ("il Sommo Poeta").
- Lorenzo Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti (born Lorenzo di Bartolo) (1378 - December 1, 1455) was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking. Ghiberti was born in Florence. He first became famous when he won the in 1401 competition for the second set of bronze doors for the Baptistery of the cathedral in Florence. Brunelleschi was the runner up. The original plan was for the doors to depict scenes from the Old Testament, …
- Michelozzo
Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michelozzi (1391 - 1472?) was an Italian architect and sculptor.
- Filippo Lippi
Fra' Filippo Lippi (1406 - October 8 1469), also called Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Italian 15th century school.
- Filippo Brunelleschi
" Filippo Brunelleschi"' was an Italian architect and one of the first architects to be associated with the Italian Renaissance in Florence. All of his principal works are in Florence. He achieved extraordinary recognition during his lifetime. As explained by Antonio Manetti, who knew Brunelleschi and who wrote his biography, Brunelleschi "was granted such honors as to be buried in Santa Maria del Fiore, and with a marble bust, which they say was carved from life, …
- Luigi Alamanni
Luigi Alamanni (sometimes spelt Alemanni; March 6, 1495-April 18, 1556) was an Italian poet and statesman. He was regarded as a prolific and versatile poet, and is credited with introducing the epigram into Italian poetry.
- Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli ("little barrels"; March 1, 1444/45 - May 17, 1510) was an Italian painter of the Florentine school during the Early Renaissance (Quattrocento). Less than a hundred years later, this movement, under the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici, was characterized by Giorgio Vasari as a "golden age", a thought, suitably enough, he expressed at the head of his "Vita" of Botticelli.
- Benvenuto Cellini
Benvenuto Cellini (November 3, 1500 - February 13, 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, painter, sculptor, soldier and musician of the Renaissance.
- Cimabue
Cenni di Pepo (Giovanni) Cimabue also known as Bencivieni Di Pepo or in modern Italian, Benvenuto Di Giuseppe, was an Italian painter and creator of mosaics from Florence. He is also well known for his student Giotto, who revolutionized painting in Italy. Cimabue is generally regarded as the last great painter working in the Byzantine tradition. The art of this period comprised scenes and forms that appeared relatively flat and highly stylized.
- Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio (June 16, 1313 - December 21, 1375) was an Italian author and poet, a friend and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist in his own right and author of a number of notable works including "On Famous Women", the "Decameron" and his poetry in the vernacular. Boccaccio's characters are notable for their era in that they are realistic, …
- Maso Finiguerra
Maso Tommasoii Finiguerra (1426 - 1464), was an Italy goldsmith, draftsman, and engraver working in Florence, whose name is distinguished in the history of art and craftsmanship for reasons which are partly mythical. Giorgio Vasari claims Finiguerra invented the printmaking technique of engraving (using that word in its popular sense of taking impressions on paper from designs engraved on metal plates to create prints).
- Lorenzo De' Medici
Lorenzo de' Medici (January 1, 1449 - 9 April, 1492) was an Italian statesman and ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance. Known as Lorenzo the Magnificent ("Lorenzo il Magnifico") by contemporary Florentines, he was the most remarkable public figure of his time. Not only a wily diplomat and politician, he headed a brilliant group of scholars, artists, and poets.
- Donatello
Donatello was a famous early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence. He became well recognized for his creation of the shallow relief style of sculpting, which made the sculpture seem much deeper than it actually was.
- Domenico Ghirlandaio
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449 - January 11, 1494) was a renowned Florentine Renaissance painter, a contemporary of Botticelli and Filippino Lippi. His many apprentices included Michelangelo.
- Paolo Uccello
Paolo Uccello was an Italian painter who was notable for his pioneering work on visual perspective in art. Giorgio Vasari in his book "Lives of the Artist" wrote that Uccello was obsessed by his interest in perspective and would stay up all night in his study trying to grasp the exact vanishing point. He used perspective in order to create a feeling of depth in his paintings and not, as his contemporaries, to narrate different or succeeding stories.
- Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian political philosopher, musician, poet, and romantic comedic playwright. He is a figure of the Italian Renaissance and a central figure of its political component, most widely known for his treatises on realist political theory ("The Prince") on the one hand and republicanism ("Discourses on Livy") on the other.
- Cosimo De' Medici
Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (September 27, 1389 - August 1, 1464), was the first of the Medici political dynasty, rulers of Florence during most of the Italian Renaissance; also known as "Cosimo 'the Elder'" ("il Vecchio") and "Cosimo "Pater Patriae"."
- Brunetto Latini
Brunetto Latini (c. 1220-1294), who signed his name "Burnectus Latinus" in Latin and "Burnecto Latino" in Italian, was an Italian philosopher, scholar and statesman. He was born in Florence, the son of Buonaccorso Latini. He belonged to the Guelph party. After the disaster of Montaperti, which took place while he was on embassy to Alfonso el Sabio of Castile to seek help for Florence against the Sienese, he took refuge for some years (1260-1266) in France, …
- Taddeo Gaddi
Taddeo Gaddi (c. 1300-1366) was an Italian painter and architect, active during the early Renaissance. As a painter, he created altar-pieces and murals and is primarily noted as a pupil and follower of Giotto. As an architect, he is credited with the design of the Ponte Vecchio.
- Farinata Degli Uberti
Farinata degli Uberti (died November 11, 1264) was an Italian aristocrat and military leader, considered by some to be a heretic, who appears in Dante's "Inferno" and is mentioned in C.S. Lewis's short "sequel" to "The Screwtape Letters," "Screwtape Proposes a Toast."
- Beatrice Portinari
Beatrice Portinari, real name Bice di Folco Portinari ((1266-1290) was a woman from Florence, Italy, who was the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's "Vita Nuova". She also appears as his guide in "The Divine Comedy" (La Divina Commedia) in the last book, Paradise and in the last four canti of Purgatory. There Beatrice takes over as guide from the Latin poet Virgil because Virgil, a pagan, cannot enter Paradise and because, …
- Catherine De' Medici
Catherine de' Medici was born in Florence, Italy, as Caterina Maria Romola di Lorenzo de' Medici, the daughter of Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, countess of Boulogne. She was queen consort of France from 1547 to 1559 as the wife of King Henry II of France. In 1533, Catherine was married at the age of fourteen to Henry, the second son of King Francis I of France, to further the interests of her uncle, Pope Clement VII.
- Luca Pitti
Luca Pitti (1398 - 1472) was a Florentine banker during the period of the republic presided over by Cosimo de' Medici. He was loyal friend and servant to the Medici and the republic. He was awarded a knighthood, and received lavish presents from both the Signory of Firenze and the Medici family as a reward for helping maintain the government during the last years of Cosimo's rule when Cosimo was too old and feeble to maintain power alone.
- Piero di Cosimo
Piero di Cosimo (also known as Piero di Lorenzo) (January 2, 1462 - April 12, 1522) was an Italian painter.
- Giuliano da Sangallo
Giuliano da Sangallo (c.1443 - 1516) was an Italian sculptor, architect and military engineer active during the Italian Renaissance.
- Rosso Fiorentino
Rosso Fiorentino (meaning "the Red Florentine" in Italian),or Il Rosso, whose name was Giovan Battista di Jacopo (1494-1540), was an Italian Mannerist painter, in oil and fresco, belonging to the Florentine school.
- Andrea della Robbia
Andrea della Robbia (October 24 1435 - august 4 1525) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, especially in ceramics. He was the son of Marco della Robbia, brother of Luca della Robbia. Born in Florence, he was the most important artist of ceramic glaze of the times. His workshop was carried on by his son Giovanni after his death.
- Antonio Meucci
Antonio Meucci (April 13, 1808-October 18, 1889) was an Italian inventor. He developed some form of voice communication apparatus in 1857. Antonio Meucci has long had champions, particularly in Italy, arguing he should be credited with the invention of the telephone (i.e. electrical voice communication). The "Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti" ("Italian Encyclopedia of Science, …
- Francesco Guicciardini
Francesco Guicciardini was an Italian historian and statesman. A friend and critic of Niccolò Machiavelli, he is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance. Guicciardini is considered as the Father of Modern History, due to his use of government documents to verify his "History of Italy."
- Marie De' Medici
Marie de' Medici, born as Maria de' Medici, was queen consort of France under the French name Marie de Médicis. She was the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the Bourbon branch of the kings of France. Later she was the regent for her son King Louis XIII of France.
- Oriana Fallaci
Oriana Fallaci (June 29 1929 - September 15 2006) was an Italian journalist, author, and political interviewer. A former partisan during World War II, she died in her native Florence, Italy, at age 77. She was called "our most celebrated female writer" by Ferruccio De Bortoli, former director of the newspaper "Corriere della Sera".
- Lorenzo di Credi
Lorenzo di Credi (c. 1459 - January 12, 1537) was an Italian painter and sculptor. He first influenced Leonardo da Vinci and then was greatly influenced by him. Born in Florence, he started to work in Andrea del Verrocchio's workshop. After the death of his master, he inherited the direction of the workshop.
- Piero Soderini
Piero di Tommaso Soderini, also known as Pier Soderini, (May 18, 1450 - June 13, 1513), was a Italian statesman of the Republic of Florence.
- Bernardo Rossellino
Bernardo di Matteo Gamberelli (1409 - 1464), better known as Bernardo Rossellino, was a Italian sculptor and architect, the elder brother of the painter Antonio Rossellino.
- Bernardo Buontalenti
Bernardo Buontalenti, byname of Bernardo Delle Girandole (1536? - June 25 or 26, 1608) was an Italian stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, military engineer and artist.
- Giovanni della Robbia
Giovanni della Robbia (1469 - 1529) was an Italian Renaissance ceramic artist. He was the son of Andrea della Robbia and grandson of Luca della Robbia. He inherited the father's workshop after his death, enhancing the polychrome character of the ceramic glaze works.
- Benedetto Varchi
Benedetto Varchi (1502 or 1503 - 1565) was an Italian historian and poet. He fought in the defense of has native city, Florence, during the siege by the Mediceans and imperialists in 1530, and was exiled after the surrender of the city. In 1536 he took part in Piero Strozzi's unsuccessful expedition against Medicean rule, …
- Luigi Pulci
Luigi Pulci (15 August 1432 - 1484) was an Italian poet most famous for his "Morgante", an epic story of a giant who is converted to Christianity and follows the knight Orlando, all written in a mock-heroic tone. He was born in Florence; his patrons were the Medicis, especially Lorenzo Medici, who sent Pulci on diplomatic missions. Even so, sometime around 1470 Pulci needed more money and went into the service of Robert Sanseverino, a northern "condottiere".
- Cacciaguida
Cacciaguida degli Elisei (c. 1091 - c. 1148) was an Italian crusader, the great-great-grandfather of Dante Alighieri. Little is known about his life. He was born in Florence, and two documents from 1189 and 1201 mention his existence; all other details of his biography are those from his most famous descendant's works. Cacciaguida probably died in the Holy Land. Dante meets Cacciaguida in "Paradiso", precisely in the "canti" XV-XVII.