Ever since I went to Firenze last year, I have a mini-obsession with the Medici Family.<BR>Their story has all the ingredients: love, hate, revenge, murder, conspiracy, arranged marriages to mention a few. <BR>Do any of you Fodorites share my feelings? I would love to know if you can visit their villas, etc. in the countryside and in towns. Also the sites in Firenze itself.

Didn't they own the Ricardo in Florence? ?And the Uffizi?

Nan, Read the Agony and the Ecstasy.

Take a cooking class with Lorenza de Medici..get up close and personal with a descendant!

Nan I absolutely second grasshoppers advice. The Agony and the Ecstasy is a great story of Michaelangelo and his relationship with the Medicis!

Nan, my kids have had the same fascination ever since Firenze, too. They loved it when we did the Loire Valley the summer after a spring in Florence that Catherine and Marie were popping up everywhere.<BR><BR>We pay homage to them at the Rubens room at the Louvre, too. The girls always head straight for the "Fat Lady" hall.<BR><BR>Amazing legacy for a very avaricious group, n'est-ce pas?

Yes, I agree they have an amazing legacy, more than we casually realize. <BR>How is Lorenza related, I thought their line had died out?

I've seen a few episodes of that TV show, starring Jane Seymour, Dr. Quinn, Medici Woman :~) <BR><BR>But seriously...one of my favorite places in Paris is the romantic Medici Fountain, in the Luxembourg Gardens, built for Marie de Medici, Catherine de Medici's cousin.

Just goes to show how far you can go running a bureau de change, wasn't that the source of their fortune? I don't think those Medicis were always very nice from what I remember.

No, they started out in banking, and went on to create a dynasty. I have a book on them but I forgot the name of it. Cosimo was the pere and Lorenzo was the Magnificient.

LOL, Capo! I read the Medici Woman thread and said, "I'll bet Capo wrote that." Scrolled up, and I was right!<BR><BR>LOL

Yes, my sister insect has a handle on it

Lorenza can trace her ancestry back to Lorenzo and beyond.. and she has children so the line has not died out..only now they are Stucchi's unless she has a brother , which I don't know!

I got hooked on the Medici's after reading "The Agony and the Ecstacy" and set the hook visiting the Capella Medici in Florence. If you're interested, there's a great book on the subject - "The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall" by Christopher Hibbert- that you might enjoy.<BR><BR>Betsy