After being banished in 1433 during the Albizzi regime, Cosimo de’ Medici re-entered Florence, marking the start of sustained Medici dominance exercised largely through existing republican institutions.
Pope Eugene IV consecrated Santa Maria del Fiore, celebrating the completion of Brunelleschi’s dome—an architectural landmark that became a potent symbol of Florentine civic identity.
At the Council transferred to Florence, Latin and Greek delegates signed Laetentur Caeli—a short-lived East–West reunion that underscored Florence’s role as a diplomatic and ecclesiastical hub.
An assassination attempt during Mass targeted Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici; Giuliano was killed and Lorenzo survived. The failed coup strengthened Medici authority and triggered wider conflict with the papacy.
Lorenzo (“il Magnifico”) died at Careggi, ending an era of Medici leadership closely tied to Florence’s political stability and cultural patronage in the late 15th century.
With Charles VIII’s invasion of Italy and backlash against Piero de’ Medici’s concessions, Florentines drove the Medici from the city, opening the way for a republican reconfiguration under strong religious-political pressure.
Supporters of Girolamo Savonarola publicly burned luxury goods and other “vanities,” signaling the moral-reform agenda that reshaped civic culture during the Savonarolan phase of the Florentine Republic.
Savonarola was executed in Florence after political and ecclesiastical confrontation, ending his direct influence and pushing the republic toward a more conventional (though still unstable) political order.
To stabilize republican institutions, Florence chose Piero Soderini as gonfaloniere for life—an experiment in durable executive leadership during the post-Savonarolan republic.
Michelangelo’s David was unveiled in the Piazza della Signoria, becoming a major public emblem of Florentine republican ideals and artistic achievement in the High Renaissance.
Spanish forces sacked nearby Prato in a campaign linked to anti-French alliances; the shock helped compel Florence to accept the Medici return, ending the Soderini-led republican phase soon after.
In the crisis following the 1527 Sack of Rome, Florentines again drove out the Medici and re-established a republic, reviving earlier traditions of anti-Medici civic governance.
Imperial and Spanish forces, aligned with the papacy, encircled Florence to overthrow the restored republic—turning the city into a major battlefield in the War of the League of Cognac.
After months of siege, Florence capitulated, and the republican regime was dismantled—clearing the way for Medici dynastic rule to be reimposed under imperial-papal backing.
Florence during the Renaissance (c. 1400–1530)
