Florentine Tuscany

A first observation is prompted by the wealth of current research on the Florentine territorial state. Gene Brucker, when discussing the present studies, stated that in the 1950s or 1960s a theme like this would have been unthinkable for a conference or a seminar. I can say that the same was true of the beginnings of the 1970s, when Marvin Becker was one of the very few scholars to combine an interest in the territory and the history of the state. Vice versa, when today we survey the field, we encounter a great quantity of work that exists in finished form, numerous scholars who in the past twenty years have worked intensely on the Florentine territorial state, and an even greater number of scholars who are just beginning their work on the subject. They are working, moreover, on themes that until the 1970s were largely ignored and were not comprised in the usual array of subjects traditionally studied by Florentinists. Today, indeed, research on the territorial state makes up the great share of ongoing work in fiorentinistica; and, more importantly, studies on the territory have offered a kind of basic historical perspective that serves to situate all of the quite diverse ongoing research into different aspects of the history of Florence.