Chapter 6 Summary and Analysis

September is a favorite time in Florence because the figs are harvested and available to eat and because flowers appear throughout the city. May is also a favorite time except for all of the rain, which can make May cold and wintry. Many foreigners dream of spending May or spring in Florence because of what they see in artwork. In June and July there are flower shows and flower markets. The window boxes in the various buildings are decorated with flowers.

Florence also had its painters who gave many people their ideas of Florence. "In Florentine painting, there were two distinct strains, just as there were Guelphs and Ghibellines, Blacks and Whites, in politics. One is stern, majestic, autumnal, sometimes harsh or livid - the Guelphish painting, you might say, that started with Giotto and continued with Orcagna, Masaccio, Uccello, Andrea...