Florence and Its Church in the Age of DanteBy the early fourteenth century, the city of Florence had emerged as an economic power in Tuscany, surpassing even Siena, which had previously been the banking center of the region. In the space of fifty years, during the lifetime of Dante Alighieri, 1265 1321, Florence had transformed itself from a political and economic backwaterscarcely keeping pace with its Tuscan neighborsto one of the richest and most influential places on the continent. While