Solving a Renaissance Murder Mystery

The most powerful family of Florence and the most powerful man in the world offer a new solution to one of the most notorious crimes of the age.

The Death of Alessandro de’ Medici, by Giuseppe Bellucci, 1864 © Luisa Ricciarini/Bridgeman Images.

It was a chilly winter morning on 26 February 1548, a day like any other. Florentine nobleman Lorenzino de’ Medici had just left the church of San Polo in Venice with his uncle. He was strolling along unsuspectingly when suddenly two hired killers wielding daggers stepped out to confront him. Lorenzino was felled by a blow to the head and quickly dispatched as he lay on the ground. His body was left there while his uncle managed to flee and the killers vanished.

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