“Florence in the Forgotten Centuries is an ambitious and impressive work. Not only does it survey a great deal of territory, much of it new, but it experiments courageously with a novel technique of historical narrative. . . . A work that is stylish and engaging as well as being back by great scholarly authority.”
— Canadian Historical Review
“This is in many ways a remarkable book which seems certain to remain the definitive history of Florence during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. It deals with every aspect of Florentine life during this period by examining a series of Florentine figures from Duke Cosimo di Medici and Galileo through the bureaucrat and reformer Francesco Maria Gianni, who served during the last years of the eighteenth century. The author has probed into every aspect of the life of Florence in depth and made meticulous use of every conceivable scrap of evidence in an impressive display of scholarship.”
— Social Science Quarterly