This fascinating work gives an account of seven little journeys in Tuscany by the authors. The book is named The Medici Balls, as, during all their travels, the authors found themselves under the shield of Florence's influential Medici family, known as the Medici Balls. Contents include: The Mugello Prato: A Mediæval Journey Chianti and the Impruneta Castruccio Castracane, Lord of Lucca Pistoja, "City of Cino" A Sunday Among the Hills of Brancoli Barga and the Valley of Garfagnana

The Medici: Annotated and Illustrated in Two Complete Volumes by George Frederick Young. The Secrecy, the conspirators, the Rise and Fall of the House of the Medici. In this exquisitely written book, you get the history of thirteen generations of a family who brought Western Europe out of the cultural darkness of their time, the city of Florence to the pinnacle of its glory, and the art of masters like Michelangelo and Botticelli to the world. The Medici is a must read for anyone interested in the Renaissance. It's probably not much of an exaggeration to claim that without Medici patronage of the arts there very well would not have been an Italian Renaissance. Acquire the knowledge about the history of Europe in perhaps its most important period, about the birth of Science,and about the great collections of Art possessed by Florence. Their rise, their course upon the mountain tops of power, and their decline and end-and to keep the parts always in subordination to the whole.

The Rough Guide to Tuscany and Umbria is the ultimate handbook to one of Italy's most spectacular and culturally rich regions. Features include: bull; Full-colour section introducing the region's highlights. bull; Detailed accounts of every sight, from the monuments of Florence, Siena and Assisi to ancient Etruscan ruins. bull; In-the-know reviews of the best places to eat, drink and stay, at all prices. bull; Practical tips on a host of activities, from attending the Spoleto Festival to walking in the Monti Sibillini. bull; Revealing background on a huge range of topics, including St Francis, the Pazzi Conspiracy and Umbrian truffles. bull; Maps and plans for every region.

By exploring the evolution of the Medici family’s villas, Cultivating the Renaissance charts the shifting politics, philosophy and aesthetics of the age and chronicles the rise of an extraordinary family from obscure farmers to European royalty. From the fourteenth to the eighteenth century, the Medici family dominated European life. While promoting both arts and sciences, the Medici helped create a new style of architecture, present a new idea of villa life and promote the novel idea of living in harmony with nature. Used variously for pleasure and sports, scholarly and amorous liaisons, commercial enterprise and botanical experimentation, their villas both expressed and influenced contemporary ideas on politics, philosophy, art and design. Each patron's public interests and private passions, as well as the architects, artists and philosophers they employed, are examined. Through a chronological approach, this book reveals how the villas were used, their reception by contemporary commentators, their legacy and their current state five centuries after they were first built. Lavishly illustrated, Cultivating the Renaissance is of great interest to students and scholars of architecture, horticulture, landscape history, philosophy, art and the history of the Renaissance in Italy.

Why the Medici family assumed the well-known device of red balls on a field of gold, is one of the vexed questions of heraldic history. Some hold that as the saints, Cosmo and Damian, who appear so often in the votive pictures of the Medici, were also patron saints of medicine and surgery, and because the name of the family signifies physicians, the balls may suggest pills (palle). Others think that a cluster of balls, formerly the sign of money-lenders, was adopted as a device by Giovanni de' Medici, founder of the greater branch of the illustrious house, who as a banker attained great wealth and influence. As the Medici identified themselves with the trading interests and government of Florence, and were connected with several noble Florentine families, their coat of arms became familiar throughout all that extensive territory subject to Florence in the fifteenth century. With its varied number of balls, or quartered with other arms, as charged with the royal lily of[viii] France, or surmounted by the keys of St. Peter and a pontiff's tiara, it greets the traveller at every turn, not only on palaces and city gates, but on illuminated manuscripts and choir books, on the covers of mediæval ledgers, and terra-cotta wine jars. Thus the title of "Medici Balls" has been given to the following record of seven little journeys in Tuscany by the authors, who in all their travels, even in lanes and modest farm-houses, have found themselves under the ægis of the powerful banker-princes of Florence. The shield, bearing seven red balls on a field of gold, represents the arms of Piero de' Medici, and the period when Medicean supremacy was at its height; in the sequence of balls employed by the various members of the family, it serves to connect the eight balls displayed on the arms of Cosimo, Pater Patriæ, the munificent financier, with the six balls of Lorenzo the Magnificent, in whom the glory and renown of the family culminated.

A study of a royal love triangle captures the relationships between King Henri II of France, his wife Catherine de Medici, and his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, examining the impact of the love story on the history of Renaissance France.

A dazzling piece of Italian history of the infamous family that become one of the most powerful in Europe, weaving its history with Renaissance greats from Leonardo da Vinci to Galileo Against the background of an age which saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, The Medici is a remarkably modern story of power, money and ambition. Strathern paints a vivid narrative of the dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence, as well as the Italian Renaissance which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Strathern also follows the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello; as well as scientists like Galileo and Pico della Mirandola; and the fortunes of those members of the Medici family who achieved success away from Florence, including the two Medici popes and Catherine de' Médicis, who became Queen of France and played a major role in that country through three turbulent reigns. ‘A great overview of one family's centuries-long role in changing the face of Europe’ Irish Independent

"Historian F.W. Kent offers a new look at Lorenzo's relationship to the arts, aesthetics, collecting, and building - especially in the context of his role as the political boss (maestro della bottega) of republican Florence and a leading player in Renaissance Italian diplomacy. Kent's approach reveals Lorenzo's activities as an art patron as far more extensive and creative than previously thought. Known as "the Magnificent," Lorenzo was broadly interested in the arts and supported efforts to beautify Florence and the many Medici lands and palaces. His expertise was well regarded by guildsmen and artists, who often turned to him for advice as well as for patronage. Lorenzo was educated in the arts by such men, and Kent explores his aesthetic education and taste, taking into account what is known of Lorenzo's patronage of music and manuscripts, and of his own creative works as a major Quattrocento poet.".

Edmund Fryde provides a general account of the attempt to revive and surpass the standards of classical historiography and charts its progress. The career of Politian, the librarian of Lorenzo the Magnificent, illustrates the advance in scholarship during the fifteenth century. Using new evidence from the Vatican Library the author demonstrates that Lorenzo's library can be largely reconstructed and that a wealth of manuscripts was already available in his time.