A quiz question · easy
Which banking family dominated Renaissance Florence for most of the 15th and 16th centuries?
The Medici family ran the Banco Medici — the largest bank in Europe — from 1397 to 1494, and through it dominated Florentine politics and patronage from Cosimo de' Medici (1389–1464) to Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449–1492). They patronised Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Leonardo. Four Medici became popes (Leo X, Clement VII, Pius IV, Leo XI) and two became queens of France (Catherine, Marie).
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The Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural and intellectual movement in Europe between approximately 1400 and 1600 that revived classical Greek and Roman learning, produced new art and science, and laid the groundwork for the modern world. It began in northern Italy and spread north and west across the continent.
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