Roman Origins
Florence was founded in 59 (BCE) as a settlement for former soldiers, being named 'Florentia', allotted by Julius Caesar to his veterans in the rich farming valley of the Arno. The city was built in the style of a military camp with a castrum of grid pattern and the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica, which can still be seen in the city center. Florentia was situated at the Via Cassia, the main route between Rome and the North, which position enabled it to rapidly expand as a commercial center. Emperor Diocletian made Florentia capital of the province of Tuscia in the 3rd century CE.
St Minias was Florence’s first martyr. He was beheaded at about 250 CE, during the anti-Christian persecutions of the Emperor Decius. The Basilica di San Miniato al Monte now stands near the spot.
Read more about this topic: History Of Florence
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