Maria Santi:
Was there a golden age?

Lorenzo the Magnificent went down in history as a philanthropist. It even happens to read “oh, what a pity that now there are no people like the Medici”, “I wish we could live in these times”. Have you ordered? We deliver.

Firstly, the Slavs, as well as the Caucasians, in Renaissance Italy were powerless slaves. The Venetians imported them as laborers. There were uprisings. After which, at best, the leaders got the opportunity to join the elite, and the rest remained in their places. Most often, dissatisfied were cut.

Dreaming of the past, people imagine themselves Riario or Borgia. Although this is not the only option. But let’s say that we were close.

Giorgio Vasari - Portrait of Lorenzo di Piero de Medici (Magnificent)

Lorenzo, like his powerful grandfather Cosimo, was kind only to friends. He rejected the dissent, and killed enemies with his own or with the wrong hands. The Medici were powerful, not loved. However, they were rulers, not pop stars.

During the Pazzi conspiracy, Lorenzo escaped death like some kind of militant hero. The wounded man escaped from the hands of the conspirators, threw a cloak on his left hand to beat off the blows, drew his sword, jumped onto the grating of the choirs, ran past the main altar and took refuge in the sacristy.

Lorenzo arranged chic holidays for the city. Always giving way to those older. He taught his son to stay a little more modest than he could afford. The magnificent received a dose of popular adoration every time he defended the Florentine state from Rome, Naples or France. And the rest of the time he was patiently endured. It was rumored that, with payments to the condottiers fighting for the republic, Medici pocketed 8%.

But while he was alive, no one dared to bring him such a charge.

Despite the widespread practice for people of his status, our hero loved his children. Machiavelli with condemnation stated that he plays with them like some commoner. From everywhere, Lorenzo wrote letters full of attention to the everyday life of the kids. His son Giovanni became Pope Leo X.

Contrary to popular belief, he was collecting things, not artists at all. The myth of him as a philanthropist arose after his death under the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I. Lorenzo the Magnificent loved the philosophers. A tough warrior, politician, and womanizer were often embraced by a sense of the phantom of everything. The amiable tyrant lived in a world won by war.

He created all the conditions for the Neoplatonist Marsilio Ficino and came to listen to him. His children were brought up by Poliziano. Lorenzo scratched the ecclesiastical enthusiast Pico della Mirandolu from the church. By the way, under the pressure of threats, the latter changed his views. Which once again confirms the thought of the outstanding art critic Alexander Stepanov that even great artists are forced to play by the rules of their time.

Do you still want a Renaissance? Then write how its conditions differ from most other eras.