Renaissance Florence
The artistic, economic and social changes that are associated with the Renaissance first began in the Italian city of Florence. In 1425, Florence was a self-governed, independent city-state with a population of 60,000. Surrounded by land, the city had no sea trade, but artist guilds and banking made Florence a money-making success. Many of Florence's families also built their fortunes on banking. The gold coin of Florence, called the florin, was so consistently pure that it became the standard currency of Europe.In the early 16th century Venice was the third largest city in the world, following the largest city, Constantinople and the second largest, the Aztec city of Technochtitlan. The ruler of Venice, called the Doge, was elected from the aristocracy. There were 134 families with 2700 members of the Venetian aristocracy in 1500. Members of this class were recorded in the Libro D'Oro - The Golden Book. Only those men whose names were inscribed in the book were eligible to be elected Doge.