Learn Italian: Era un genio ed è nato a Firenze. - He was a genius and was born in Florence.

This perfectly shows the difference between the two past tenses! Being a genius was an ongoing state or description of who he was, so we use the imperfetto (era). Being born was a single, completed event that happened at a specific moment, so it requires the passato prossimo (è nato).

Why does è nato use è (is) to mean "was" born?

The verb nascere (to be born) uses essere (to be) as its helper verb in the passato prossimo. While it looks like it literally means "he is born," it is the standard way to say "he was born" in Italian.

Why is the word for "and" ed here instead of just e?

When e (and) comes right before a word starting with a vowel, an extra "d" is often added to make it flow better when speaking. This is especially common when the next word also starts with an "e", like the verb è.

Why do we say a Firenze instead of in Firenze?

In Italian, you always use the preposition a for cities and towns. You only use in for larger geographical areas like regions, countries, or continents (for example, in Italia or in Toscana).