The Historic Center of Florence is a UNESCO world heritage site and symbol of the Renaissance, flowering under the Medici family in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.  The 13th-century cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore) still dominates the skyline of this city, next to the Arno RIver, which flows past the architectural and artistic masterpieces of Giotto, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Michelangelo and more, in piazzas, loggias, and palazzi, such as the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens.