The Medici and the Making of Early Modern Tuscany

Catalog description

Florence and Tuscany offer a rich window into the making of modern Europe - a story that goes far beyond the familiar narrative of the Renaissance. This course explores how the Medici family, across three centuries, shaped not only the political and cultural life of Florence but also transformed Tuscany into a powerful regional state.As bankers, politicians, and patrons of the arts, the Medici were the de facto rulers of the Florentine Republic and State between 1434 and 1494. However, the family's immaterial legacy extends well beyond the Quattrocento and beyond the artistic patronage. In 1494, the Medici were exiled from Florence and labeled as tyrants. Nevertheless, during the sixteenth century, the Medici regained control of the city, assumed the title of dukes of the Florentine Republic, and were later elevated to grand dukes of Tuscany. These new princes built much more than a capital of the arts or a cultural myth: they obtained a new kind of popular support, they founded a peaceful State that endured beyond the end of their dynasty in 1737, they established new dynastic ties with royal European families, and they transformed Livorno into a Mediterranean free-port central to the expanding global economy. These achievements were the fruit of the remarkable capacity of the Medici men and women to convert crises across Italian, European, and Mediterranean history into opportunities for political consolidation. Students will engage with scholarly essays, primary sources, guest lectures, and site visits to key Medici palaces, villas, and cities to critically examine how power was built, maintained, and projected - both in Florence and beyond.