The Medici family dominated the city of Florence for about 300 years. This was a period of three centuries from the 1430s to the 1730s – a time that spanned the renaissance and the development of exceptional art, sculpture and architecture in the city of Florence. Even today a visitor to the city has only to make their way up to Piazzale Michelangelo to look down on a perfect medieval city designed and perfected by legions of artists including Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Giotto and Michelangelo.
Cityscape of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo
THE MEDICI were a family of merchants, entrepreneurs, politicians and art patrons. Originally from Mugello in the Tuscan countryside the Medici moved into the city of Florence where they established themselves as wool and textile traders. When Bicci de’ Medici founded the Medici Bank in 1397 he laid the foundations for the family to consolidate their power and wealth. They dominated local government and established the family as one of the richest and most powerful dynasties in Europe. They were a family capable of great benevolence and exceptional artistic taste.
CRUCIALLY – They were bankers to the Catholic Church in Rome and provided no less than four popes to the Eternal City from 1513-1605; Leo X, Clement VII, Pius IV and Leo XI. The family also provided two Queens of France from their ranks. In 1533 at the age of 14, Catherine de Medici the daughter of Lorenzo Medici was married to Henry II, King of France. The marriage was arranged by her cousin Pope Clement VII. Then in 1600 Marie de Medici was married to Henry IV of France. In terms of strategic marriages and political alliances the Medici family were adept.
Consolidating the family’s standing in Florence was their first priority. When Cosimo the Elder commissioned a fabulous palazzo for himself and his family in 1445, he wanted a prestigious property fitting for a man of his status. He achieved his goal. Palazzo Medici was built just a few paces from the spectacular Duomo of Florence – the ultimate symbol of the renaissance both then and now. The Medici Palace with its magnificent courtyard was designed by Michelozzo – it is a superb example of powerful renaissance architecture. The Medici Palace has remained a focal point of Florentine life from its 15th century construction up until today almost 600 years later. Now it is the Town Hall of Florence. A palace occupied every day by government officials, civil servants, tourists and academics alike. I’m sure that such comings and goings would make Cosimo proud – what a legacy.
Cosimo was a huge patron of artists and sculptors. He invited Benozzo Gozzoli to create frescoes in the private chapel of his brand new palace. He wanted a dramatic ‘Arrival of the Wise Men’ with a difference and Gozzoli was the man for the job. He had worked as an apprentice to Lorenzo Ghiberti on the famous bronze doors of the Florence baptistery. He was a talented goldsmith and also a painter. He was responsible for some of the smaller details and figures in the Old Testament panels that decorated Ghiberti’s bronze doors. The completed doors were so beautiful and elegant that Michelangelo nicknamed them ‘The Gates of Paradise’ and the name stuck.
Gozzoli had also worked for Fra’ Angelico at the Convento di San Marco on a series of wonderful frescoes that decorated the monks cells. These frescoes were completed around 1442 and included an ‘Arrival of the Wise Men’ also known as ‘Adoration of the Magi’ and sometimes the ‘Procession of the Magi’. This fresco almost certainly influenced his work at the Medici Palace. So when the young Gozzoli arrived at the Medici Palace to create frescoes for the private chapel he had all the right credentials.
Giorgio Vasari in his ‘Lives of the Artists’ (1550) had this to say about Benozzo Gozzoli………… This man was a disciple of Fra Giovanni Angelico, by whom he was loved with good reason; he was..very productive in the painting of animals, perspectives, landscapes and ornaments…….In the Chapel of the Palace of the Medici he painted the Story of the Magi in fresco……[at his death] He was honorably buried in the Campo Santo (Pisa)…
In early summer 1459 Benozzo started work on the new fresco cycle in the Medici Chapel. At this point Cosimo was already the papal banker and had received special permission from Pope Martin V to have a private place of worship in his home. This special permission from the Pope demonstrates how influential the Medici family had become.
Lorenzo Medici as Casper – the youngest of the ‘Magi’
THE MEDICI ‘MAGI’ PROCESSION that Benozzo Gozzoli created at the newly built palace is a truly exceptional piece of art. A masterpiece of colour, detail and historic story-telling. The broad outline of the fresco was completed within six months – although the details, intricate colours and endless cast of characters took three years to complete. The procession was designed to fill the four walls of the private chapel. The painting style is colourful, intricate and full of movement. The use of gold, lapis lazuli, rich reds and forest greens conveys the verdant Tuscan countryside. The cast of characters is, quite literally, a cast of thousands.
The frescoes tell the story of a ‘Biblical Journey’ that the ‘Magi’ the kings from the East undertook to worship and give gifts to the baby Jesus. The three wise men Caspar, Balthasar and Melchior are depicted travelling across the lush Tuscan landscape to Bethlehem. The frescoes are filled with a vast procession of people, some on horseback, others walking and at the front of the parade is a young Lorenzo the Magnificent on a white horse, accompanied by his father Piero the Gouty and family patriarch Cosimo de’ Medici. Cosimo is riding a donkey or mule (a possible reference to Christ entering the city of Jerusalem on a donkey). There are numerous members of the powerful Medici family, their political allies, friends and supporters depicted in this lavish procession.
Lorenzo de’ Medici appears as Caspar, the young magus – he is elegant, riding on a white horse and is dressed in gold, white and red. The pages riding in front of him carry an urn filled with myrrh. Meanwhile further back in the procession comes Balthasar, he is the adult magus, dressed in gold and green. He is the Byzantine Emperor (Eastern Emperor) possibly John VIII Palaeologus (1390-1448). He is the magus in the middle years of life, his horse is draped in gold, Balthasar is wearing a gold crown and his cloak is elaborately decorated with gold. He and his horse are wearing the gift of gold that they will give to the new born baby. The third magus is Melchior an elderly gentleman with a flowing white beard, he too is riding a mule or donkey, perhaps a gesture of humility. His page carries an urn filled with frankincense. There is discussion in academic circles about the identity of the elderly magus – Melchior – he could be the Patriarch of Constantinople (an important religious figure) or he could be Sigismund of Luxembourg (Holy Roman Emperor).
The craftsmanship and skill of the artist is evident in the intricate costumes, Lorenzo in white and gold, Balthasar in green and gold, Melchior in rich red and autumnal shades.
Whilst discussion of individual characters and who they are is interesting it’s important to focus too on the quality and detail of the narrative that Gozzoli has created and shared with the viewer. This is a landscape of hillsides and rocky escarpments, woodlands and green pastures. It is a territory filled with people, animals and birds. The countryside is similar to the rolling hills of Tuscany. Everywhere you look there is colour, texture and detail. There are trees laden with fruit, meadows filled with flowers and birds circling in the sky. The scene is a rural paradise. Colour and vibrancy is everywhere. The clothing and tunics of the people, hats, shoes, boots, belts, cloaks – every detail and every colour from the page to the lord carefully rendered. Then there’s the gold, the gold of Lorenzo’s cloak and the gold harnesses of Balthasar’s horse. The chapel was designed to be dimly lit, allowing the gold of the frescoes to glitter and glimmer in the candlelight.
IMPACT – Imagine being a visitor to the Medici Chapel in the 15th century. A room with no windows (apart from a small oculus high up near the ceiling), a room lit only by candles, with gold glittering from the walls. The visitor would have been impressed and probably intimidated by the wealth and luxury on display. At one level a private chapel, deep within the walls of the palace, a place for prayer or for contemplation. At another level a place for confidential meetings, a place to persuade and encourage important visitors to support the Medici family. Nothing here was left to chance, even the horse that Piero is riding steps gingerly over six ‘palle’ strewn on the ground. The palle (or balls) are the Medici symbol and can be seen on the family crest.
WAYS OF SEEING – The ‘Magi’ procession that Benozzo created is a masterpiece of pomp and ceremony, power and intimidation. It’s soft power at its finest. A lesson in control and dominance. This is no ordinary ‘arrival of the kings’ this is a sophisticated and deliberate attempt by the Medici family to put themselves and their handsome young heir at centre stage. Precisely and carefully they position their ‘hero’ Lorenzo in the company of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Emperor of Byzantium – putting themselves up there as the great leaders of Europe. We are the leaders of Europe is the clear message – we are in charge. Lorenzo (aged 10 at the time) is our future.
Florence – Medici Chapel frescoes, Lorenzo (centre) by Benozzo Gozzoli – 1459 (East Wall)
Lorenzo Medici as Casper, Byzantine Emperor John VIII as Balthasar and Patriarch of Constantinople as Melchior – Benozzo Gozzoli 1459-1462
Self-Portrait: The artist Gozzoli included a portrait of himself in the crowd, marked with his name on his hat.
Many of the crowd following Cosimo and Piero (left) wear the red caps typical of 15th century Florence.
It’s worth taking time to look at the photos above of the ‘Procession’ the detail is quite extraordinary. Each photo merits a careful inspection, there are details in each frame that are only noticed after a minute or two of looking. There is even humour in the pictures, the young man with the leopard on the back of his horse for example. It’s also important to remember that these frescoes were painted almost 500 years ago.
In 1659 the Medici family sold their palace to the Riccardi family. The Medici moved first to the Palazzo Vecchio, on Florence’s main piazza and then to the Pitti Palace to the south of the River Arno. As the new owners the Riccardi family decided to modernise the palace and put in a huge central staircase, in the process the exquisite chapel was reduced in size and one of the fresco panels was cut into pieces to accommodate the new staircase. Whilst the frescoes were repositioned once the work was completed the artistic vandalism that occurred makes it difficult to appreciate the part of the fresco featuring Melchior, the oldest Magus, and leaves him and his horse in a shadowy corner (hence the rather dull photo above).
MEDICI PATRONAGE – The Medici dynasty provided an exceptionally rich tapestry of learning, artistic taste and financial acumen to the people of Tuscany. They also demonstrated an extraordinary ability to combine business with ruthless manipulation and cunning. They were developing and using Machiavellian techniques long before ‘The Prince’ was even written.
The Medici consolidated their position as the arbiters of artistic taste by supporting numerous artists in Florence. These included Donatello the sculptor and Brunelleschi architect of the famous dome of Florence Cathedral. To this day the huge dome of Santa Maria dei Fiori is regarded as a major feat of engineering – Brunelleschi devised a double dome structure enabling the two domes to support each other during construction. The family also supported Fra Angelico (teacher of Benozzo Gozzoli) and Lorenzo Ghiberti the creator of the magnificent bronze doors to the Baptistery. This was the golden era of Florence and the Medici.
LOOKING BACK to Ancient Greece and the work of Plato as a philosopher inspired Cosimo de’ Medici to establish the Platonic Academy. Marsilio Ficino, a humanist scholar and intellectual was appointed head of the Academy. The Platonic Academy provided a philosophical school and a centre for debate and discussion in Caraggi, just outside Florence. The works of Plato were translated from Greek into Latin making them accessible to scholars who didn’t speak Greek. The Academy allowed the Medici family to demonstrate their intellectual and enlightened status as the financial patrons and supporters of the school. Many scholars have argued that this interest in learning and philosophy was a ‘soft power’ play by the Medici family to demonstrate their intellectual superiority and even their divine right as rulers in the city of Florence. Cosimo also founded Florence’s first public library at the monastery of San Marco, making ancient texts and manuscripts available to academics and researchers alike. The library project was a generous act of philanthropy and also, once again, a subtle statement of Medici benevolence and taste.
Medici Chapel frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli – 1459 (East Wall) – featuring Lorenzo on a white horse
LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT – Let’s look more closely at Lorenzo portrayed as Caspar, the youngest of the Magi, in the Gozzoli frescoes. He is a young prince leading the Medici family, dressed in white and gold, into the ‘golden age’ of art and culture in Florence. This representation of Lorenzo does actually come true. He does continue his father’s and his grandfather’s legacy. As an adult he is a very influential patron of numerous artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli. In 1490 Michelangelo was invited to live at the Palazzo Medici with Lorenzo and his family – he remained there until Lorenzo’s death in 1492. This was indeed the golden era of Florence and the Medici.
UNFORTUNATELY you can’t wield great power and influence without making a few enemies. On 26th April 1478 Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano were the victims of the Pazzi Conspiracy. The brothers were attacked in the Duomo of Florence whilst attending the morning church service. Giuliano was killed and Lorenzo escaped with just a light wound. The Pazzi family, rivals of the Medici, were heavily involved in the attempted coup. More than eighty people involved in the plot were rounded up, captured and punished. Some of them were executed and some were hanged from the windows of the Palazzo Vecchio. Others were exiled for life. Bizarrely the failed plot consolidated Lorenzo de Medici’s position. He continued to rule Florence until his death in 1492. Years late Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Leo X (a Medici pope of course) to create the tombs of Giuliano and Lorenzo in the Basilica of San Lorenzo – thus cementing their legacy. Pope Leo X was the second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent! Golden rule – always keep it in the family.
THE MEDICI were exiled from Florence twice over the years. The first time was 1494–1512. A period of 18 years. After the death of Lorenzo the citizens of Florence rose up and drove the Medici family out of the city, restoring a republic influenced for a time by the Dominican friar Savonarola. He was famous for his fire and brimstone sermons and accused Pope Alexander VI of ‘moral laxity’ and corruption. In retaliation the pope excommunicated him in 1497. Less than a year later Savonarola was arrested during a mob attack on the San Marco Convent, he was tortured, condemned as a heretic, and hanged and burned to death in the Piazza della Signoria. The Florentine people loved a bit of drama and Savonarola was burned to death at the exact same spot where he had organised a ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ one year earlier. The ‘Bonfire’ was a burning of all luxurious and unnecessary items including books, art works, ornaments and even cosmetics. Despite the civil unrest by 1512 the Medici were back, having done a deal with Pope Julius II and the Spanish. Medici dominance was re-established. They even booted Machiavelli out giving him time to write his book (The Prince 1513-1514).
There was a second period of Medici exile from 1527–1530 when the people of Florence once again expelled the Medici and created a republican government. This time the exile was very short-lived, just three years. Curiously the two most important political leaders in Europe, at the time, albeit from different sides, Emperor Charles V and Pope Clement VII both sent soldiers to besiege the city. The event, known as the ‘Siege of Florence’ of 1530 toppled the republicans and surprise, surprise the Medici returned.
The family then transformed Florence into a hereditary duchy under Alessandro de’ Medici, cementing their authority in Florence and Tuscany for the next two hundred years until the end of the dynasty in 1737. However the lives of tyrants never run smooth. In 1537 Alessandro was assassinated by a distant cousin. The murder was claimed to be a political plot to replace the autocracy of the Medici with a republican government. That never happened and instead Cosimo de’ Medici from a junior branch of the Medici clan became the next Duke. He was initially a duke and then elevated to the status of grand duke……
DUKE AND GRAND DUKE – Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519-1574) was the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, he was the great-grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Cosimo ruled with a rod of iron, first as Duke of Tuscany and later as Grand Duke of Tuscany. He had a personal militia of Swiss guards to protect him. He consolidated his territory and took control of Siena in 1555 after decades of fighting with the Sienese.
ART – Cosimo also consolidated his leadership role through art. He commissioned Benvenuto Cellini, the highly vocal sculptor and goldsmith, to create a huge bronze statue of Perseus slaying the Medusa. The sculpture was unveiled in 1554 and was positioned strategically in the Loggia dei Lanzi. The choice of Perseus, hero, warrior and son of Zeus was deliberate. Cosimo I de’ Medici was referencing absolute power through art. Even the positioning of the statue immediately opposite the Palazzo Vecchio was significant. Baccio Baldini, personal doctor and biographer of the duke, wrote that Cosimo watched nervously from a window of the Palazzo Vecchio when the statue was unveiled, to see the reaction of the citizens. To his great relief the response was favourable.
In the portrait below, painted by Ludovico Cardi, Cosimo is dressed as a king, wearing an ermine trimmed cloak, gold robes and carrying a sceptre topped with the fleur de lys, symbol of the French Royal family and also the symbol of the city of Florence. The message, through art, is simple, Cosimo is the rightful and mighty leader of Florence. He is the monarch.
MEANWHILE the day to day reality in the city of Florence was rather different. Cosimo was always accompanied by a bodyguard when he walked the streets of Florence and he carried weapons concealed in his cloak. There was fear and anxiety in the air.
By the 1550s it wasn’t safe for the Medici to walk the streets and Cosimo commissioned Giorgio Vasari to design and build a secret passageway linking the Uffizi (offices) with the Pitti Palace. The passageway known as the Corridoio Vasariano was finished in 1565. The corridor ran from the Uffizi across the top of the Ponte Vecchio to the Pitti Palace on the south side of the River Arno. It allowed the Medici family and their entourage to move about the city without being seen on the streets. The risk of assassination was so great that even the windows of the passageway were small, reducing the chances of a cannonball or arrow entering the building. The photos below show the Vasari Corridor and the barred windows overlooking the River Arno.
VASARI – Giorgio Vasari was a loyal friend to Cosimo I he designed the Uffizi buildings and worked on remodelling the Palazzo Vecchio and the Pitti Palace. He also wrote a detailed two volume biography about the artists of Italy – which he dedicated to his patron entitled ‘The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects’ first published in 1550. This weighty tome was a detailed and extensive list of the great artists of the day and is still an important source of information for art historians. Cosimo was impressive and forward-thinking, not only did he support and fund artists, he even supported Vasari as the chronicler of the great artists of the day. After all to ensure your legacy all details of paintings, sculptures, buildings and artists had to be recorded for posterity.
So was Cosimo I powerful and divine or was he fundamentally weak and neurotic? His wife Eleanora of Toledo was both independently wealthy and higher ranking than him, she was a princess. His mother Maria Salviati was very powerful too. The construction of the Vasari Corridor was either a bold move by an invincible leader to move freely around his kingdom or perhaps it was the action of a frightened Grand Duke hoping to survive a few more years. In reality Cosimo spent more and more time at Castello, his villa in the hills just outside Florence, where de died in 1574. The garden he created at Castello with its fountains and ‘giochi d’acqua’ are a wonderful example of renaissance garden design.
THE MEDICI STORY continued in 1574 with Francesco de’ Medici ruling as the second Grand Duke after his father’s death. He was an ineffectual leader and very unpopular. He died in mysterious circumstances in 1587. He was succeeded by his brother, a Cardinal in Rome at the time, who was removed rapidly from the Vatican to become Ferdinando I de’ Medici – a popular Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609. Ferdinando was popular, approachable and kind. He was genuinely interested in the people of Florence. He improved the Tuscan justice system and conferred free port status on the city of Livorno. He was a patron of the arts and supported opera. His most important contribution however was that he recruited Galileo Galilei to tutor his young son.
GALILEO – Galileo was the leading scientist, thinker and astronomer of the day, he was private tutor to both the young prince Cosimo II and later to his son Ferdinando. Galileo acted as teacher, tutor and mentor to both young princes. He was also active in the Medici court as one of the greatest thinkers and intellectuals of his day. When Galileo discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter in 1610 he diplomatically named them the “Medicean Stars” to flatter his patron and friend Cosimo II. Keeping up with all the Cosimos is complicated. Cosimo II appointed Galileo as the official “Mathematician and Philosopher” in Florence. This position granted Galileo full financial freedom to focus exclusively on his research. The Medici family protected and financed him for decades.
When Cosimo II (1590-1621) was succeeded by his son Ferdinando II support for Galileo continued. The scientist expressed his gratitude to Ferdinando when he wrote his ‘Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo’ in 1632. He dedicated the book to his patron and gave him the first printed copy. Galileo had deduced that the planets of our galaxy orbited around the sun. This scientific reasoning really upset the Catholic Church in Rome – they branded Galileo a heretic and sentenced him to house arrest for life! The Medici family continued to support him and almost certainly protected Galileo from a lifetime in prison or worse.
NEXT came Cosimo III – he had the longest reign of any Medici Duke. He was the penultimate and perhaps the most disastrous Medici ruler. He presided over a period of economic decline. He was narrow-minded anti-semitic and deeply unpopular. He raised taxes, relied on a network of spies and informers and sanctioned numerous public executions. He ruled with a rod of iron from 1642 until 1723. He had a wife who hated him and an economy that was stagnating. His most impactful and practical achievement was issuing an official edict in 1716, that legally defined the borders of the Chianti wine-producing area. This decree established the first official wine appellation, protecting the quality and name of Tuscan wines. This action was a direct precursor to the modern DOC and DOCG wine certifications. So perhaps he wasn’t all bad.
THE LAST of the Medici line was Gian Gastone de Medici, Cosimo’s son. He repealed his father’s antisemitism laws, reduced taxes, stopped public executions and halted the insidious network of spies and informers that loitered around every street corner listening for the words of dissent. However Gian Gastone did commission a grand tomb monument to Galileo in the Basilica of Santa Croce and had the great man’s remains interred at the church. Finally the legendary scientist had the honourable burial he deserved. Gian Gastone ruled from 1723-1737. He was the last of the line.
LEGACY – Every influential person in Europe needed the support of the Medici, either financially or politically. Kings and princes, popes and emperors – they all came to the Medici to borrow money, seek political support or marry strategically into the dynasty. As for artists Florence was the dynamic and creative centre of Europe thanks to Medici support. The list is impressive, Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, Fra’ Angelico, Gentile da Fabriano, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Giotto, Vasari, Cellini, Gianbologna the list goes on and on.
In a funny sort of way I actually feel a bit sorry for the Medici in Florence, they couldn’t walk about the city without someone trying to kill them – hence the construction of the Vasari Corridor linking the ‘Uffizi’ with the Pitti Palace. The irony was that the greater their power and influence the greater the number of enemies they had.
Tuscany (left) and Grand Duke of Tuscany coat of arms (stemma) right.
What did the Medici leave behind after 300 years of dominance? The Medici left a city of art, philosophy and learning. A city of exquisite beauty and artistic richness. They left behind a unique legacy of power, wealth and a fully documented history of three centuries. Their aspirations were unbounded. At one point the Medici hoped to take control of the strip of land running from Castrocaro (Emilia Romagna) to the Adriatic Sea – a dream that they almost achieved – it never happened, but if it had it would have given the Medici control of Northern Italy from coast to coast. It didn’t happen! But it nearly did!
When mass tourism started to develop in the 19th century, visitors from Europe and America arrived in Florence in great numbers to study the art and architecture of the city. Think of EM Forster’s novel ‘A Room with a View’. A few decades later art critics like Bernard Berenson arrived in Florence. From the last decades of the 19th century the art and culture of Florence has been discussed and dissected, diced and spliced by hundreds of academics and experts. The city’s artistic heritage has probably been studied more deeply and consistently than any other European city. From these studies we’ve learned about the renaissance, we’ve learned about the relationship between art and power and we’ve learned about the making of a dynasty.
From the ‘Procession of the Magi’ in the Convent of San Marco in the 1440s to the ridiculous pomp and ceremony of Gian Gastone’s majestic portrait of 1737 the Medici family cemented and consolidated their position in Florence through art. The art gave them a sense of permanence that their human bodies and feeble lifespans could not. From Cosimo the Elder, via Cosimo I to Gian Gastone the Medici leaders metamorphosed from merchants and commoners to dukes and European leaders. The only thing they lacked was the title of ‘king’.
Cosimo the Elder (top left) Pontormo c.1520. Cosimo I by Ludovico Cardi c.1603 and lastly Gian Gastone by Ferdinand Richter 1737
The Grand Tourist team doing what we do – Bilge (left) and Janet (right)
THE AUTHOR Janet Simmonds writes about history, geography and art in Italy, The Alps and Mediterranean. Janet is an Art Historian and a Geographer. A graduate of the University of Oxford, she has a special interest in Venice and the history of tourism especially The Grand Tour. She works as a guest lecturer in Italy for university groups and private individuals. She also works in Venice, Oxford and London. She also runs a specialist travel company www.grand-tourist.com offering exceptional journeys in Italy, Greece, Turkiye and British Isles.
You might enjoy these articles from the Educated Traveller Blog:
- Florence is magical….
- Florence, Tuscany
- The Adoration of the Magi – 15th century
- History of the Grand Tour
Villa of Castello – engraving by Utens (1599) and Duomo of Florence – May, 2026
November 2026
