The Medici and European Culture

The sixteenth in a series of art, scientific and cultural exhibitions staged since 1953 under the auspices of the Council of Europe was held this year in Florence with as its theme Florence and Medicean Tuscany in Sixteenth Century Europe . The organisers took as their date of departure the year 1532, when Clement Vll and Charles V between them contrived the overthrow of the Florentine Republic and installed Alessandro de' Medici as Duke, and chose to end with the death in 1609 of the Grand Duke Ferdinand I. These dates were sometimes over-stepped, but it did not seem greatly to matter; the promoters succeeded brilliantly in portraying the bewildering variety of achievement of the Medici grand dukes in their heyday and the leading role Tuscany played under them in the cultural life of Europe.