The buildings there are works of art abounding in yet more works of art, and the splendours of the city are stamped with the personalities of the men who made them. The geniuses of Florence were backed by men of towering wealth, and the city to this day gives testimony to their passions for religion, for art, for power, or for money. Among the most famous of the city’s cultural giants are Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Dante, Machiavelli, Galileo, and its most-renowned rulers, generations of the Medici family.