Florence is Ezio Auditore's birthplace in Assassin's Creed II.
Ezio is born into the Auditore family in Florence in 1459. The city is one of the game's principal locations and introduces players to the political, artistic, and commercial world of Renaissance Italy. Ezio's father, Giovanni, works as a banker while secretly serving the Assassin cause.
The Auditore family is executed after Giovanni is framed for treason, forcing Ezio to flee Florence with his mother and sister. That event begins his transformation from a young nobleman into an Assassin seeking justice against the Templars responsible for the conspiracy.
Assassin's Creed II later takes Ezio to Monteriggioni, San Gimignano, Forlì, Venice, and Rome. Florence is therefore both his birthplace and one of the key foundations of his personal story, although Venice becomes another major setting during the game's middle chapters.