Fiesole (Italian pronunciation: [ˈfjɛːzole]) is a town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 8 kilometres (5 mi) northeast of that city. Both the University of Harvard and Georgetown University maintain centers for Renaissance studies in Fiesole. The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio is set in the slopes of Fiesole.

Since the 14th century the city has always been considered a getaway for the upper class of Florence and up to this day Fiesole remains the richest municipality in the whole of Tuscany.

Fiesole (Etruscan Viesul, Viśl, Vipsul) was probably founded in the 9th-8th century BC, as it was an important member of the Etruscan confederacy, as may be seen from the remains of its ancient walls.

The first recorded mention on the town dates to 283 BC, when the town, then known as Faesulae, was conquered by the Romans. In pagan antiquity it was the seat of a famous school of augurs, and every year twelve young men were sent thither from Rome to study the art of divination. Sulla colonized it with veterans, who afterwards, under the leadership of Gaius Mallius, supported the cause of Catilina.

Fiesole was the scene of Stilicho's great victory over the Germanic hordes of the Vandals and Suebi under Radagaisus in 406. During the Gothic War (536-53) the town was several times besieged. In 539 Justinus, the Byzantine general, captured it and razed its fortifications.

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