Florence and the Finer Things

HOW THE MEDICI FAMILY MADE FLORENCE AN EPICENTER OF THE ARTS Written and photographed by Olivia Peters, Arts Staff Writer

From the vantage point of the Piazzale Michelangelo, the city of Florence looks like a greenscreen image. The panoramic view features the Arno River in the foreground and the Chianti Mountains as a backdrop. The skyline has changed very little since the 1430s, when Florence became the epicenter of the Renaissance.

I had the chance to go to Italy in the spring of 2019 when I visited my boyfriend who was studying abroad. We only had one week together to explore all of Italy’s hotspots, so each day was an exciting blur of sightseeing, museums and mind-blowing food. At the time, Florence was just another name on the list. I knew some of its history already, but I had no idea the effect that the city would have on me or how clearly it would live in my mind over a year later. On our first night in town walking through the streets, we noticed a constant stream of people headed up a steady incline. With a general idea of what we’d find at the top, we followed. When we reached the overlook of the Piazzale Michelangelo, I fell in love. Not only was I looking at a piece of history, but at one of the most beautiful architectural skylines I’d ever seen. I have the Medici family to thank for that view.

The Medici family became prominent during the 13th century due to their roles as bankers and merchants in the city.1 The Vatican, for example, was one of the family’s major, long-time clients.2 The Medicis were also

1 Reinke, Kira. “How The Medici Influenced Renaissance Florence.” Barnebys.com. Barnebys, June 26, 2020. 2 Nix, Elizabeth. “7 Things You May Not Know About the Medicis.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, November 16, 2016. devoted patrons of the arts, having commissioned numerous pieces of work which remain invaluable today. It is Cosimo de Medici’s vision in specific which we have to thank for establishing Florence as the center of artistic revolution during the beginning of the Renaissance.

In 1434, Cosimo de Medici rose to heights greater than any of his family before him, driven by ambitions for Florence, as well as the potential he saw in his family’s business. He ruled Florence as an uncrowned leader of the people for the majority of his life and cultivated a massive collection of art.3 Between the 14th and 16th centuries, Europe as a whole saw the rebirth of art, architecture and literature in a period known as the

Renaissance. Oxford Art Online describes the Renaissance as a period of “growing awareness of the natural world, the individual and collective humanity’s worldly existence.”4

Cosimo played a critical role in the Renaissance, calling on architects, sculptors and painters from all over and commissioning them to create works for him. Artists typically didn’t make work unless it was paid for in advance. The affluent Medicis didn’t just buy art, they helped fund its conception. One of the most famous examples of these transactions is the Statue of David, which Cosimo commissioned Donatello to sculpt.5 Cosimo treated these artists as his friends in a time when they were regarded as laborers by society, and this reputation attracted other creatives to Florence.6

The Medici family also had an office space in a building called the Uffizi, where they established a small museum featuring their collection of Renaissance art. Today, the same building gets thousands of visitors a week. The Uffizi Museum is now one of the most famous in the world.

4 “Renaissance Art and Architecture.” Oxford Art Online. Accessed November 12, 2020. 5 “Cosimo De’Medici of Florence: Biography & Overview.” Study.com. Accessed November 12, 2020. 6 “Cosimo De’ Medici.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., September 23, 2020. When I visited the Uffizi, I walked slowly down the halls, overwhelmed by the enormous collection. The white, marble floored hallways were complemented by ceilings painted more elegantly than anything I’d ever seen. Countless rooms each bore new, intricately gilded treasures. There were windows at the end of each hallway, and I was drawn again to the view of Florence’s skyline. I spent time standing in front of each window in the museum as though the view itself was a painting. Yet there was one massive structure in the center of town that held my attention.

For decades before Cosimo’s rule, there sat a great cathedral in the center of Florence that had no roof. The architect who designed the base had been unable to come up with a structurally sound design to enclose the building.7 Cosimo de Medici commissioned an architect named Filippo Brunelleschi to finish the cathedral after hearing his pitch to construct an internal dome to act as support for a secondary, outer dome.

Many thought Brunelleschi was mad because of his outlandish ideas. Perhaps these very eccentricities were what allowed him to accomplish an architectural feat unlike any before. In 1436, Brunelleschi completed the dome of the cathedral, which remains the largest masonry dome ever built in the world.8

Walking next to Brunelleschi’s dome, I had to crane my neck to see all the way to the top. The town of Florence encircles the cathedral in a way that seems too casual for its brilliance. None of the other buildings come close in height or stature.

At the time, a group of local teenagers on bikes had been meeting up on one side to hangout, and a leather goods store stoof of the plaza on the other side. I looked on at all of the people going about their lives and wondered if they noticed how beautiful the city was. I wondered how someone could ever get used to something as grand and intricate as the terracotta exterior of the dome.

Cosimo de Medici understood the importance of the artistic movement he was living in. He appreciated creative expression in all of its many forms, including architecture, paintings and sculpture. His family’s patronage is responsible for some of history’s most divine treasures. Each day he walked around the Piazza del Duomo; I can only imagine he never tired of his view of the dome. ■

8 Johnson, Sara. “How Brunelleschi Built the World’s Biggest Masonry Dome.” architectmagazine.com. Accessed November 12, 2020.