Lorenzo de' Medici was Cosimo's grandson — the third generation of Medici rule, and by far the most celebrated.
He took power at 20 and ruled Florence for 23 years, turning the city into the cultural capital of Europe.
The collection you see around you in the Uffizi is the direct legacy of that patronage: Botticelli, Leonardo, and the young Michelangelo all worked in Florence simultaneously under his watch.
It is one of the most extraordinary concentrations of genius in the history of art.
In 1478, the Pazzi conspiracy almost ended everything.
Rivals stabbed Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano during mass in the cathedral.
Giuliano died with 19 stab wounds.
Lorenzo escaped through the sacristy with a sword wound to the neck.
He executed the conspirators, had the ringleaders painted on the Bargello walls as a warning, and expelled the entire Pazzi family from Florence.
Lorenzo died at 43, in 1492 — the same year Columbus sailed to America.
His son Piero — 'the Unfortunate' — lasted two years before surrendering Florence to a French invasion without a battle.
Fun fact: when news of Lorenzo's death reached Rome, Pope Innocent VIII wept and said: 'The peace of Italy is at an end.' He was right.
