What was Florence like under Lorenzo the Magnificent?

Lorenzo the Magnificent's Florence

La Firenze di Lorenzo il Magnifico

1469–1492. Lorenzo de' Medici led Florence from 1469 until his death in 1492, without ever holding a royal title.

Where: Italy

What happened

Lorenzo de' Medici led Florence from 1469 until his death in 1492, without ever holding a royal title. He survived the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478, in which his brother Giuliano was stabbed to death in the cathedral during Mass, and worked to keep the peace between the Italian states. He protected artists and scholars, took the young Michelangelo into his household, and was a poet himself: his carnival song about youth, 'Quant'è bella giovinezza', is still read at school. Two years after his death the French invaded Italy, and decades of war followed.

Say it

Lorenzo de' Medici era un politico, un mecenate e un poeta.

Lorenzo de' Medici was a politician, a patron of the arts and a poet.

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