The Medici rose from a large but not initially dominant Florentine family into the city's de facto rulers, largely through the banking fortune built by Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici in the late 1300s and expanded dramatically by his son, Cosimo de' Medici, in the 15th century.
Cosimo the Elder and Lorenzo the Magnificent
Cosimo de' Medici (1389–1464) built the family's political influence carefully, funding public works and art while largely avoiding formal titles that might have provoked republican opposition — a template of power-through-patronage rather than outright rule. His grandson, Lorenzo de' Medici (1449–1492), known as "il Magnifico," is the figure most associated with the family's golden age: a patron of Botticelli and the young Michelangelo, and a genuinely skilled political operator who kept Florence stable through a turbulent period in Italian politics.
The Pazzi Conspiracy
In 1478, a rival banking family, the Pazzi, orchestrated an assassination attempt against Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano during Mass in the Duomo itself — Giuliano was killed, Lorenzo survived and badly wounded, and the aftermath saw brutal reprisals against the conspirators. It's one of the more dramatic episodes tied directly to a site visitors can still walk through today.
From bankers to Grand Dukes
The family's fortunes fluctuated — they were expelled from Florence more than once — but by the mid-1500s, under Cosimo I, the Medici had become hereditary Grand Dukes of Tuscany, a formal monarchy rather than the earlier informal influence. Two Medici women, Catherine and Marie, became queens of France. The dynasty's direct line ended in 1737 with the death of Gian Gastone de' Medici.
What the Medici left behind
An enormous share of what visitors see in Florence today exists because of Medici patronage or ownership: the Uffizi (originally built as government offices, "uffizi," before becoming a gallery for the family's art collection), the Pitti Palace, the Medici Chapels at San Lorenzo, and countless individual commissions across the city's churches and museums. The family's art collection, bequeathed to the city on the condition it never leave Florence, forms the core of what the Uffizi holds today.