{"id":13108,"date":"2017-10-02T08:08:44","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T06:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/?p=13108"},"modified":"2021-01-06T17:59:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06T16:59:38","slug":"medici-florence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/medici-florence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Medici in Florence: Where to find Florence’s Most Famous Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Medici<\/strong> family name is intertwined with the history of Florence: with the enormous gains of their bank, the Medici became some of the most important patrons of art<\/strong> during the Italian Renaissance. It is thanks to the last Medici heir that Florence has important museums like the Uffizi. I think that every visitor to Florence learns something about the Medici, and I know that there’s a lot of fascination with them lately due to the (not historically accurate) tv show Medici: Masters of Florence<\/a>. But you could study the Medici for a decade and still not know everything about them, nor get their family tree entirely straight, which is reason enough to take every opportunity to learn more.<\/p>\n

I did a little on-site learning recently with Context Travel recently in the Medici: Portrait of a Family<\/a> walking seminar. In 3.5 hours you see three important locations of Medici power in Florence and talk about even more of them, though I pointed out to our guide, Patricia, that one could easily make it a day-long tour (not to mention a semester long course or an entire art historical career). Inspired by what I learned in Patricia’s informative tour and combined with a few other personal favourites, I want to take you on a virtual “Medici Spotting” tour. Here are the main places of the Medici in Florence<\/strong>, or where the Medici Family has left its mark.<\/p>\n

\"Courtyard
Courtyard of San Marco, a monastery paid for by Cosimo de’ Medici<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

A very brief history of the Medici Family<\/h2>\n

Before we start looking at specific places, a very very brief history of the Medici<\/strong> is necessary. Despite my art historical background, I hardly feel qualified to introduce them (and I haven’t successfully memorized the family tree past Cosimo I). Put simply: in the 13th century, Florence was very wealthy thanks to the brilliant banking skills of a few families who, along with the guilds, financed the city’s most important churches and buildings (like the Palazzo Vecchio, the Duomo, Santa Croce, Orsanmichele…). Most of these families were bankrupt before the Medici became the best and richest bankers in town. The pater familias<\/em>, Giovanni di Bicci<\/strong> (1360-1429), managed to become banker to the Pope, and this spiraled upwards when he left the business to his two sons Cosimo and Lorenzo. Unlike his father, who didn’t like politics (although he served his city when he had to), Cosimo (the Elder)<\/strong> parlayed money into power, becoming the de facto<\/em> ruler of Florence, which was, on paper, a democracy. Cosimo was an important patron of the Early Renaissance. His grandson Lorenzo<\/strong> (aka The Magnificent<\/strong>) was perhaps the other most important patron, especially as he gave the young Michelangelo<\/a> a head start.<\/p>\n

Let’s leave it at that – the rest, as they say, is history. Just one thing to keep in mind: there are two branches of the family. The figures we’ve just talked about are from one branch, and when they die out, power passes to the other branch. At that time, you see many names repeated, in particular Cosimo I (the I is for being the first Duke of Florence and then of Tuscany) and Cosimo II. Lorenzo and Giovanni were also popular names. So that’s why we always use the nicknames like “the elder” to keep the figures straight.<\/p>\n

San Marco<\/h2>\n

The convent of San Marco<\/strong> is a project funded by Cosimo the Elder,<\/strong> so our Medici walk with Context Travel started here. This convent was handed over to members of the observant Dominican order who previously lived up in Fiesole (the complex was taken away from the Silvestrines) by Pope Eugene IV, who, along with Cosimo, favoured this order. The place was in dire need of renovation, and that is where good Christian guilt comes in. The Medici family were bankers, and we all know that banks charge “usurious” fees and interest. Well that’s what all good banks have done for hundreds of years, and the Medici were no exception. Cosimo was getting old and starting to fear for his soul, so to atone for his sin of usury, he gave to the church. He even had a private cell built for himself here at San Marco, where he spent a lot of time (some say to get away from his wife).<\/p>\n

\"A
A single cell in San Marco, with a painting of the Transfiguration by Fra Angelico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

San Marco is one of the most unique places I think you can visit in Florence, and after all these years I have almost forgotten how unusual this place must seem to a first-time visitor. The ground floor is normal enough: you’ve got a cloister with some large rooms off it, including a chapter house (where they held meetings), a refectory and another room used now as museum space. But then you head upstairs to the friars’ living spaces. In an epoch in which surely most people shared rooms with numerous brothers or sisters, here, each friar had his own room. Sure, it’s a small and very sparsely furnished cell but it’s individual, and it has art. Fra Angelico (or as the Italians know him, Beato Angelico) was a Dominican friar and he just happened to be a good painter too. He and his assistants decorated the various spaces of San Marco from 1436-1445. Each cell has a simple painting that was used by the friar for meditation. In the more “public” spaces, the style of his frescoes are more detailed, while here they strip down to the bare essentials of narrative.<\/p>\n

\"Adoration
Adoration of the Magi in Cosimo’s cella<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cosimo’s cell is a double one, and it’s painted with a large fresco representing the Procession of the Magi. This image reflects something that really happened in Florence every Epiphany since the 14th century, a procession that, from 1417 onwards, was directed by a lay confraternity of which Cosimo was a member, and that began and ended right here at San Marco.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Library at San Marco<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another amazing space to note in San Marco is the library<\/strong>, which was possibly the first “public” library in Europe. By public they mean open to noble men who could read, of course! The serene repetition of rounded arches and the alternating pietra serena and white intonaco are Michelozzo’s interpretation of Brunelleschi’s style.<\/p>\n

Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library, Mannerist Tendencies<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n