“Originally a peasant family who wandered down out of northern Tuscany in 1434, the Medici gradually became rich bankers and then powerful regents, always known for their love of gardens and art.”
WOW!!! Somebody needs to fact-check their history here. The Medici may have been peasants way back in the 1100s, but by the 1200s they were already businessmen in Florence, and by the late 1300s they were already in banking. By 1434, the family was well entrenched in Florence as one of the city’s richest and most powerful clans, and their bank had become an international financial empire.