Goethe overlooked Florence because his travel guide portrayed the city as insignificant. Travel guides can be mistaken, which is where this little book serves as a literary invitation. Writers present the city in their own way: as a geometric brawl (Giorgio Manganelli), a money machine (Guido Ceronetti), and a madhouse (Curzio Malaparte) - with a notorious example of Tuscan folly: Roberto Benigni's speech about God and the world. Alternatively, they describe individual places. And finally, a look back: into the Renaissance novellas (Anton Francesco Grazzini, Giovanni Boccaccio, Franco Sacchetti), into the late 19th century when Florence was the capital of Italy, into the year of liberation and the year of the great flood. Additional texts by: Piovene, Andreini, Papini, Loria, Bilenchi, Collodi, Saba, de Medici, Dante, Palazzeschi, Landolfi, Montale, Luzi, Rosai.