Global Citizenship

Florence, where the Renaissance began. Where we start again after the Roman Empire has collapsed. Florence, the city in which I believe contributed the most to western civilization (besides Rome). Florence is where an interest in the classical past and what was lost began. The Renaissance, where sexuality is not a sin, but something to be celebrated, where humanity comes to life with the help of masterminds like Michelangelo who gives birth to classical aesthetic and merges it with Christianity, where the universe is something to be discovered with the help of Leonardo and Galileo, where nudity is a state of purity. All of this occurring within a square in Florence. All of this, but the thing that caught my attention the most was the Medicis and their banking. Florence has a banking industry and branches are opened all throughout Europe, which eventually due to its stability leads to international trade in Europe. Florence had brilliant artists with banking people who funded it, with the Medicis funding the artistic aspect of the Renaissance. The basis of Florence's economy was banking as it rose in the 1200's. Florence is the city in which I compare to America the most, both being capitalist and both economy's relying on the banking system. Here is where I reflected on the importance of banking to America's economy is and actually in any economy. I reflected on the effects banking has had in our economy, from the ability of loans that allow people to own homes, cars, and open businesses, to the ability to hold cash in the form of a plastic card. Where would people get money from if there wasn't a bank to lend it to them? Banking raises the standards of living in which people live. I compare banking to blood in the way in which it gives life to an economy. Here in Florence is where I realized the importance of an industry like banking. What I found most interesting was the fact that I am an Economics major and did not realize the importance of banking to an economy until I stepped foot into Italy and was taught the story of the Medicis and of capitalist Florence. It comes to show just how connected the past in Italy is to every discipline, from art to science to the economy. Florence opened my eyes to this fact. When I arrived to Florence, I expected to continue being taught on history and art, in which I was, but was awed when the subject of capitalism and banking arose. I came to the conclusion that banking is so important to the health of the economy that it is what caused (along with the help of the negligent Wall Street CEOs) the 2007-2009 Great Recession and for many people to lose their jobs and life savings. I came to the final conclusion that our economy cannot continue to exist and grow the way it does without the banking system, I believe the future depends on it, just as Florence did in the 1300's.