Florence: The Medici Odyssey and the Mystery of Absolute Art

Florence, in the heart of Tuscany. Seldom in the history of humanity has a city had such an impact on the history of art. This is where the Renaissance began. In the 15th century, Florence was a wealthy and influential city. To show their power, the princes of the day were prepared to spend vast amounts of money erecting monuments and surrounding themselves with the very best artists. Palaces, squares and religious edifices testify to their genius. Florence became one of the most beautiful cities in the world. A city made sublime by the spirit of the Renaissance. Our journey begins here, in the Santa Croce district, where one of the city's most famous basilicas stands. Santa Croce is one of the symbols of Florentine art. It is a testament to the abundance of art produced in the city during the 15th century. Over time, the basilica has become a pantheon of Florence's great figures in the fields of art and science. Amid the larger tombstones sits an altarpiece created by Giotto. Donatello's Annunciation can also be found here. Buried here are Galileo, the composer Rossini and Machiavelli. But the jewel in Santa Croce's crown is the tomb of Michelangelo, designed by the great Giorgio Vasari. Florence owes its standing as the ultimate expression of artistic genius to one family, the Medici. The city owes its extraordinary destiny to them. The Medici are still regarded as possibly the greatest patrons of the arts in the history of the world. To understand the history of the Medici family in Florence, a visit to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi is an absolute must. This is where the Medici reign began. A fresco dating from this period can be found in the Maggi Chapel, the procession of the Magus Caspar. This fresco demonstrates the power of the Medici, who dominated the city for more than 300 years. Several members of the Medici family are represented here. It's the first example of political propaganda by the Medici. Lorenzo the Magnificent is shown as a child on a white horse. Behind him is Pierre, on the other white horse, and his grandfather, Cosme l'Ancien. They are represented in the fresco as rich merchants, powerful men at the heart of the village. The Medici were among the first to grasp the importance of the arts in the quest for power. For the Medici family, the importance of patronage was down to two factors. Firstly, their personal and traditional taste for beautiful things. And secondly, this patronage allowed them to build a reputation and to make themselves known to other European countries in order to attract numerous artists from all over Italy and Europe to their court. The rise to prominence of the House of Medici was led by one man, state banker Giovanni de' Medici. Thanks to him, the family amassed a considerable fortune, and the bankers duly became princes. The vast fortune was inherited by his son, Cosimo the Elder, whose own son, Lorenzo the Magnificent, became in turn a true prince of the Renaissance and a lavish and extravagant patron of the arts. He sponsored most of the great artists of the day, most notably Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, both of whom he welcomed into his home. For more than 300 years, the Medici occupied all the major strategic positions in Italian society. Estatesmen, businessmen and popes, dealing in power and intrigue and placing their wealth in the service of the arts and sciences. They initiated one of the most important cultural and artistic movements in Western Europe, the Renaissance. The creation of the gates of the San Giovanni Baptistery is considered to be one of the founding acts of the Renaissance in Florence. In 1401, a competition was organised to decide who to entrust with the construction. It was the first public artistic competition of modern times. The winner was an unknown sculptor named Lorenzo Ghiberti. He worked for more than 25 years to complete this absolute masterpiece of bronze. Astounded by their beauty, Michelangelo dubbed the doors the Gates of Paradise. To win the competition, Ghiberti had to beat a candidate named Filippo Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi was a sculptor but he was also an architect. Following his failure, he set off for Rome and discovered the magic of the ancient ruins. On his return, he was one of the first to reinvent the organisation of the city. It is due to him that we have this square, the Piazza della Santissima Annunciata. On this square, Brunelleschi built the Ospedale degli Innocenti, or Foundling Hospital. It was Europe's first orphanage. Brunelleschi's idea to integrate a hospital in the middle of a square was extremely innovative at the time. So this was almost like a new birth. There is something magical about it. Suddenly, in the winding medieval streets, you come across a place that is pure and full of light. He created something new and softer. It was very important to him and almost an obsession to stand out from the Romanesque and Gothic styles because these styles belonged to people from the north. So he needed to find something which was new and unique to Florence. So it was kind of a new synthesis. He introduced this idea that architecture is not just about interiors and walls, it can also be about an actual open air space. And that was a real first. As well as being one of the first architects to imagine a square in the middle of the city, Filippo Brunelleschi was the creator of the Duomo. The Duomo is the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore, one of the largest cathedrals in the world. It dominates the Florentine skyline. The cathedral's dimensions reflect the ambitions of the city. A competition was held, won by Brunelleschi. The Santa Maria took 100 years to build, in the open air. Brunelleschi had to solve the technological conundrum of how to cover a hole 45 metres in diameter. He opted to give the dome a slightly pointed shape, to provide better distribution of weight. His theory was based on the load-bearing properties of eggs, which he said refused to yield when pressed down upon. The work went on for 16 years, and at the time of Brunelleschi's death in 1446, the project was still unfinished. It was still missing the steeple that would offset the ensemble. Thanks to the detailed plans he left behind, the work was successfully completed. While the baptistery doors and the Duomo brought fame to Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, Florence also nurtured the genius of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Donatello. With the commissions being handed out by wealthy families, craftsmen evolved into fully-fledged artists. The work of Donatello can be found in many of the large constructions around his native city. The statues of the bell tower, for example. However, these statues, completed in 1433, were not always accorded such a prominent position. Only later, when Donatello achieved recognition, were they taken out of the alcoves located on the façade hidden from the bell tower. Donatello was almost 80 before people realised the importance of his work. It was then decided to move his statues to the bell tower's main façade. This remarkable homage to the master Donatello is the most concrete demonstration of the importance of their artists, and to art in general, by the people of Florence. With the Renaissance came a new concept of sculpture. Artists embraced the most important themes of ancient art, the nude male form, busts and equestrian statues. We are in the Gallery of the Accademia, where one of the greatest masterpieces of Renaissance art is on display. Michelangelo's David. First noticed when he was 15, the young Michelangelo was hired by Lorenzo the Magnificent. He then discovered the sublime Medici collection of ancient statues. His in-depth study of them, plus his special talent, led him to produce this monumental statue. It is 4.8 metres high. David is one of Michelangelo's major works. He was 30 years old when he completed it. He spent three years of his life sculpting a single block of marble. David versus Goliath has long been an emblem of the city of Florence. And despite the sensuality that radiates from the figure, Michelangelo imbued him with considerable strength. Look at this hand. It seems disproportionate in comparison with the rest of the body. It is said to be the hand of Michelangelo, the hand of the creative genius who symbolised the strength and power of the city of Florence compared with the rest of the world. During the Renaissance, any aristocratic family worth its salt had to have a palace like the Medici's. The palaces are like fortresses in appearance. They were not designed to reflect the glory of their inhabitants, but rather to promote the stability of the family. In Florence, one family has lived in the same palace for 500 years. The Antinori family. Contrary to general practice, the Marquis Piero Antinori receives us in his private apartment. Here is my favourite room, because it's the room where all my ancestors have worked. It was their office, and today it's mine. The palace's history is also linked to the Medici. My ancestor, Niccolò Antinori, was friends with Laurent of the Medici, who, before he died, made it so that it would be him who bought the palace instead of any other interested parties. And this was really how Niccolò Antinori managed to acquire this palace. The family's determination to keep hold of this palace down the centuries is out of respect for their ancestors. This is a very important document for us. It has great value because it is the will and testament of Niccolò di Tommaso Antinori, in which he outlines his desire to see future generations keeping the palace united and never letting it be divided. So, it has always been handed down to the family's eldest son in each generation. This is how we have been able to preserve it, even to this day, in perfect condition, just how it was originally. The Marquis Antinori is today the head of a wine empire created in 1385, an empire he oversees with his three daughters. It's been a very good year. I've taken some home for myself. And what's more, I think it's going to age well. Over the last 500 years, the interior architecture has barely altered. The style remains feudal. Today, we still live here in the same way they lived here in 1506. The family lives on the upper floor, the floor for nobility, where guests are received. And the ground floor is devoted to commercial activity. Everything has remained identical between 1506 and 2013, which has developed our sensibility and our admiration for the beauty of Renaissance architecture. This forms a part of our style today and ensures some continuity. The Antinori Palace is the only one in Florence to have maintained its commercial activity, here on the ground floor of the building. It is a source of great pride for the family. This place is something of an institution in Florence. During the Renaissance, clients were sold wine through this small hatch. The power and wealth of the great Florentine families was underpinned by their trade activities. A stroll through the Oltrano district provides a glimpse of the city's ancient professions and traditions. It is a labyrinth of alleyways lined with small houses and workshops. This was the heart of Florentine trade. From the late 14th century onwards, Florence was the headquarters of Europe's wool and silk trade. This silk workshop belonged to the Ricci family. It is the only one in the world that still operates just as it did 250 years ago. During the Renaissance, all the noble families of Florence employed their own weavers. At the time, wearing silk was a sign of wealth. It was therefore essential to have the best weavers at one's disposal. Likewise, the best sculptors and painters. This one is one of the fabrics which were really important and very precious during the Renaissance for the nobles and the very rich families. And the particularity is the shortage and these particular colours you see because the colours in that period were very expensive natural colours and so only the noble and very rich could afford it. In a corner of the workshop stands a unique machine, the only one of its kind in the world. It was designed by the great Leonardo da Vinci. For many years, the idea existed only on paper. Not until the 18th century was the machine constructed from the master's blueprint. He saw the way they were working and he tried every time to find something to do it better. So his invention was a very simple mechanic, but a genius idea to have the possibility to pose the threads in this version. When you see it, it is perfect. It is the only piece which has ever been realised and we use it daily. Leonardo da Vinci was the Renaissance man par excellence with an infinite capacity for creativity and inventiveness. Painter, sculptor, architect. Leonardo was a visionary genius, an inventor who was so far ahead of his time that many of his projects remained unfulfilled. Leonardo da Vinci's passion for knowledge also expressed itself in the field of science. Ignoring the admonishments of the church, he dissected human bodies to better understand how human beings worked. He left more than 200 anatomical charts, which were extremely detailed for the time. He was the first to correctly draw the curves of the spinal column and ribs showing the precise position of the pelvis. The Medici legacy in Florence affected every artistic field. Painting, sculpture, architecture. Their extraordinary patronage allowed the city of Florence to write itself into the history of art forever. The Renaissance also heralded a revolution in lifestyles. This was a period in which the art of the perfumer came to prominence. The Officina di Santa Maria Novella was set up by the Dominican friars. Their reputation of the products soon spread beyond the convent's perimeter wall and in 1612, the pharmacy opened its doors to the public under the patronage of the Medici family. It is one of the oldest perfumeries in the world. But today, the fragrances bought here have evolved greatly from the Medici era. At the time, the master perfumers created fragrances to order, using the most precious essences for the great Florentine families. Seleno Caloni is a master perfumer. During the Renaissance, for the first time in history, perfume became a way to communicate with others, to create a link between one's own and another's personalities. And it was very in fashion during the Renaissance to perfume gloves. And why gloves? Because the hand was the only point of contact allowed between a man and a woman when they greeted each other. So there was a fascination for perfume and for this very sensual gesture. Back at the Piazza della Signoria, the Palazzo Vecchio was for a long time the Medici seat of power. Today, it is Florence's town hall. In the 16th century, Cosimo I, Duke of Florence and Grand Duke of Tuscany, moved into the Palazzo Vecchio to show off his authority and prestige. When Cosimo I decided to restructure the interior, he first thought of entrusting all the work to Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci. In the end, Giorgio Vasari was chosen. From then on, the name of Vasari would be inextricably linked to the splendor of the Medici and to their desire to conquer. Giorgio Vasari is best known as the creator of one of the most astonishing buildings in Florence, the Vasari Corridor. It links up two palaces, the Palazzo Vecchio, located in the middle of the city, and the Palazzo Pitti, situated on the other side of the river Arno. Imagine a passage, which is in fact a richly adorned hall, more than a kilometre long, running alongside, then spanning, the Arno, snaking its way above the alleyways of Florence, cutting a sway through the city's palaces. This corridor, commissioned by Cosimo I in 1565, starts from the green room of his wife, Eleonora di Toledo. In an era when assassinations were not uncommon, he wanted to cross Florence incognito and in safety to access the new Medici residence, the Palazzo Pitti. It was Eleonora who, in 1549, bought this palace, built in the previous century by a Florentine banker. The Boboli Gardens were built for her. This vast Italian-style park, with its hundreds of statues, is where the magnificent festivals put on by the Medicis were held. All the splendors of the city can be admired from the Boboli Gardens. The centuries go by and nothing moves. Care must be taken, though. This unique legacy can provoke a phenomenon known as Stendhal syndrome. In 1817, the famous French writer, overcome by the splendors of Florence, experienced feelings of faintness which, according to the specialists of the day, were brought on by an overdose of beauty.