The Republic of Tuscany is a southern European nation, and part of the Italian League. Tuscany has a very distinguished history. Once home to the Etruscans (after whom the nation was named), the area was later conquered by the Roman Republic. It then became an important area in the Roman Empire, as the city of Florence was settled by Romans. The Roman Empire broke up later, and the Italian peninsula fractured into various states. One came to be named Tuscany. Florence, the largest city and capital of Tuscany, became one of the first cities that went through the Renaissance. Florence became a center of the arts, as well as "humanism". Often, humanism would be linked to Christianity, mostly out of fear of being labeled heretics or unbelievers, and particularly because the pope and Rome were