"a single powerful family, the Medici, led by Lorenzo de' Medici, who came to be known as ""Lorenzo the Magnificent"". In 1481 Leonardo commenced an important commission, the painting of a large altarpiece for the church of S. Donato a Scopeto. The work was never completed. Leonardo left Florence and travelled to Milan carrying a gift from Lorenzo to the regent ruler, Ludovico Sforza. He was employed by Ludovico from 1481 to 1499, during which time his most important works were the ""Virgin of the Rocks"", the ""Last Supper"" and a huge model of a horse for an equestrian monument"
"Italian peninsula for decades, and his life coincided with the mature phase of the Italian Renaissance and the Golden Age of Florence. The Peace of Lodi of 1454 that he helped maintain among the various Italian states collapsed with his death. He is buried in the Medici Chapel in Florence. Lorenzo's grandfather, Cosimo de' Medici, was the first member of the Medici family to lead the Republic of Florence and run the Medici Bank simultaneously. As one of the wealthiest men in Europe, Cosimo spent a very large portion of his fortune on government and philanthropy, for example as a"
"Lorenzo succeeded his father, Piero. Lorenzo, as heir, was accordingly groomed by his father to rule over Florence. Lorenzo was the greatest artistic patron of the Renaissance. He patronised Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli, among others. During Lorenzo's reign, the Renaissance truly descended on Florence. Lorenzo commissioned a multitude of amazing pieces of art and also enjoyed collecting fine gems. Lorenzo had many children with his wife Clarice Orsini, including the future Pope Leo X and his eventual successor in Florence, Piero the Unfortunate. Lorenzo's brother Giuliano was killed before his own eyes in the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478."
"San Lorenzo, Civitella del Tronto San Lorenzo is a Renaissance-style Roman Catholic parish church located in the town of Civitella del Tronto, in the province of Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy. This church was dedicated to St Lawrence, and once stood outside of the town walls. During a siege in 1557, it served as a bastion of the defence. The façade has giant order pilasters with two central oculi: one above the rounded portal, and the other in the tympanum. In 1777, the interior was refurbished in a Baroque-style. The church has a single nave with two lateral chapels. The bell-tower is"
"in Florence. Though the Republic of Florence was still a republic in name, Lorenzo ruled with his mother's help. The Medici palace became the location where government decisions were made. When Lorenzo took the Florentine army in the summer of 1515 to support Pope Leo and the Spanish in the war against Francis I of France, Alfonsina took up the rule in his name. Though she could not hold an official office, she directed the decisions of the governing councils and edited the letters Lorenzo sent to the councils. The councils noted in their records that decisions had been made"
"Republic of Venice, after Emperor Frederick I ""Barbarossa"" had claimed direct Imperial control over Italy at the 1158 Diet of Roncaglia and began to replace the Podestà magistrates by his own commissioners. It was backed by Pope Alexander III (the town of Alessandria was named in his honour), who also wished to see Frederick's power in Italy decline. Formed at Pontida on 1 December 1167, the Lombard League included—beside Verona, Padua, Vicenza and Venice—cities like Crema, Cremona, Mantua, Piacenza, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Treviso, Vercelli, Lodi, Parma, Ferrara and even some lords, such as the Marquis"
"Principality of Salerno The Lombard Principality of Salerno was a South Italian state, formed in 851 out of the Principality of Benevento after a decade-long civil war. The port city of Salerno owed allegiance to the Western Emperor, but throughout its history was practically independent and for brief periods even entered into the vassalage of the Byzantine Empire. In 839, the prince of Benevento, Sicard, died. Immediately, his chief army officer, Radelchis, seized power in Benevento and imprisoned Sicard's heir and brother, Siconulf, in Taranto. Amalfitan merchants rescued Siconulf from prison, and he was proclaimed prince in Salerno. A civil"
"Laurentum Laurentum was an ancient Roman city of Latium situated between Ostia and Lavinium, on the west coast of the Italian Peninsula southwest of Rome. Roman writers regarded it as the original capital of Italy, before Lavinium assumed that role after the death of King Latinus. In historical times, Laurentum was united with Lavinium, and the name Lauro-Lavinium is sometimes used to refer to both. According to Livy, in the 8th century BC at the time when Romulus and Titus Tatius jointly ruled Rome, the ambassadors of the Laurentes came to Rome but were beaten by Tatius' relatives. The Laurentes"
"to external enemies. The civil war lasted ten years and ended with a peace treaty imposed in 849 by Emperor Louis II, the only Frankish king to exercise actual sovereignty over the Lombard states. The treaty divided the kingdom into two states: the Principality of Benevento and the Principality of Salerno, with its capital at Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Andrew II of Naples hired Saracen mercenaries for his war with Sicard of Benevento in 836; Sicard responded with other Muslim mercenaries. The Saracens initially concentrated their attacks on Sicily and Byzantine Italy, but soon Radelchis I of Benevento called"
"Kingdom of Italy in 855. In 962 Italy was invaded by King Otto I of Germany, and Mantua thus became a vassal of the newly formed Holy Roman Empire. In the 11th century, Mantua became a possession of Boniface of Canossa, marquis of Tuscany. The last ruler of that family was the countess Matilda of Canossa (d. 1115), who, according to legend, ordered the construction of the precious Rotonda di San Lorenzo (or St. Lawrence's Roundchurch) in 1082. The Rotonda still exists today and was renovated in 2013. After the death of Matilda of Canossa, Mantua became a free commune"
"anyone married to a Pazzi was barred from public office. Guglielmo de' Pazzi, husband of Lorenzo's sister Bianca, was placed under house arrest, and later forbidden to enter the city; he went to live at Torre a Decima, near Pontassieve. In the aftermath of the ""Pazzi"" conspiracy, Pope Sixtus IV placed Florence under interdict, forbidding Mass and communion, for the execution of the Salviati archbishop. Sixtus enlisted the traditional Papal military arm, the King of Naples, Ferdinand I (also called Don Ferrante), to attack Florence. With no help coming from Florence's traditional allies in Bologna and Milan, Lorenzo was faced"
"Lavello Lavello (Potentino: ) is a town and ""comune"" in the province of Potenza, in the region of Basilicata of southern Italy; it is located in the middle Ofanto valley. The area of Lavello was settled in prehistoric times, as attested by findings of an Iron Age village. The town originated as a Daunian and then Roman settlement, known as Forentum. It was already an important stronghold during the Lombard rule in southern Italy, and here was killed Sicard of Benevento (839). Lavello was an important Byzantine center and a bishopric seat from 1025. Starting from 1043 Lavello was one"
"the Lombard League cities and with Pope Celestine III on his Imperial coronation, and ceded Tusculum to the Pope. At Easter Monday on 15 April 1191, in Rome, Henry and his consort Constance were crowned Emperor and Empress by Celestine. The crown of Sicily, however, was harder to gain, as the Sicilian nobility had chosen Count Tancred of Lecce as their king. Henry began his work campaigning in Apulia and besieging Naples, but he encountered resistance when Tancred's liensman Margaritus of Brindisi came to the city's defence, harassed Henry's Pisan navy, and nearly destroyed the later arriving Genoese contingent. Moreover,"
"Budrio Budrio (Eastern Bolognese: ) is a town and ""comune"" in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy; it is east of Bologna. Budrio is the birthplace of Giuseppe Barilli, better known under his pseudonym of Quirico Filopanti, an Italian mathematician and politician. Budrio's area was an Roman colony, whose territory was divided between veteran legionaries. The current town was however founded in the 10th-11th centuries AD. The church of ""San Lorenzo"" was already active in 1146. In the 14th century Cardinal Gil de Albornoz rebuilt it as a castle, of which the two large towers (1376) can still"
"thus added to the Papal States. Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) was in Perugia in September 1198 to consecrate S. Lorenzo; by October, he had left for Todi. Innocent III died in Perugia in 1216, where the cardinals gathered to elect Honorius III. According to Heywood, According to Heywood, Perugia ""virtually assumed the position of Papal Vicar in Umbria."" The two apparently had a falling out by the time of Martin IV, who excommunicated the entire city of Perugia for disobeying his order not to exact vengeance upon the Bishopric of Foligno, and he and his cardinals were burned in effigy"
"the Magnificent, who was said to be extremely fond of the young Michelangelo and invited him to study the family collection of antique sculpture. Lorenzo also served as patron to Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) for seven years. Indeed, Lorenzo was an artist in his own right and an author of poetry and song; his support of the arts and letters is seen as a high point in Medici patronage. After Lorenzo's death, the puritanical Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola rose to prominence, warning Florentines against excessive luxury. Under Savonarola's fanatical leadership, many great works were ""voluntarily"" destroyed in the Bonfire of"
"Leo X to make him Duke of Urbino at the age of 24. So began a conflict with the city's theretofore duke, Francesco Maria I della Rovere. During the protracted War of Urbino, Delle Rovere recaptured the city, only to have Medici – commanding a 10,000-man Papal army – in turn, retake the city. During battle, Lorenzo was wounded, which prompted him to retire to Tuscany. In September 1517, he regained the Urbino via treaty; however, it remained under the Medici family's rule for only two years. Upon Lorenzo II's death in 1519, the duchy reverted to the Della Rovere"
"San Lorenzo, Florence The Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St Lawrence) is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III. It is one of several churches that claim to be the oldest in Florence; when it was consecrated in 393 it stood outside the city walls. For three hundred years it was the city's cathedral before the official seat of the bishop was transferred to Santa Reparata. San Lorenzo"
"X), Fano (from Innocent VIII to Clement VIII), Fermo (from Boniface IX, 1390, to Leo X), the Marches (around Ancona; from Boniface IX to Gregory XIII), Macerata (from Boniface IX to Gregory XIV), Modena (under Leo X and Clement VII), Montalto (under Sixtus V), Orvieto (under Julius II), the ""Patrimony"" (from Benedict XI to Benedict XII), Perugia (from Julius II to Julius III), Ravenna (from Leo X to Paul III and under Benedict XIV), Recanati (under Nicholas V), Reggio (from Julius II to Adrian VI), Spoleto city (under Paul II), the Duchy of Spoleto, PROVINCIÆ DUCATUS (under Paul V), Viterbo"
"and his nephew Lorenzo for brilliant secular careers. He had named them Roman patricians; the latter he had placed in charge of Florence; the former, for whom he planned to carve out a kingdom in central Italy of Parma, Piacenza, Ferrara and Urbino, he had taken with himself to Rome and married to Filiberta of Savoy. The death of Giuliano in March 1516, however, caused the pope to transfer his ambitions to Lorenzo. At the very time (December 1516) that peace between France, Spain, Venice and the Empire seemed to give some promise of a Christendom united against the Turks,"
"strong imperial control of the mainland. In central Italy there were the city-states of Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Siena, Città di Castello, Perugia, Ancona among others. South of Rome and the Papal States were the city-states of Salerno, Amalfi, Bari, the Duchy of Naples, Gaeta and Trani which in 1130 were united in the newly created Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Around 1100, Genoa and Venice emerged as independent maritime republics. For Genoa – nominally – the Holy Roman Emperor was sovereign and the Bishop of Genoa was head of state; however, actual power was wielded by a number of consuls annually"
"of the devastated peninsula in the late 500s, establishing the Lombard Kingdom. They were in constant conflict with the Exarchate of Ravenna, a polity established to replace the old Praetorian Prefecture of Italy and enforce Roman rule in Italy. The wealthiest parts of the province, including the cities of Rome and Ravenna, remained securely in Roman hands under the Exarchate throughout the seventh century. Although other Eastern emperors occasionally attempted to campaign in the West, none were as successful as Justinian. After 600, events conspired to drive the Western provinces out of Constantinople's control, with imperial attention focused on the"
"Naples, Rome and the area of the future Venice. The one inland city continuing under Byzantine control was Perugia, which provided a repeatedly threatened overland link between Rome and Ravenna. In 578 and again in 580, the Senate, in some of its last recorded acts, had to ask for the support of Tiberius II Constantine (reigned 578–582) against the approaching Dukes, Faroald I of Spoleto and Zotto of Benevento. Maurice (reigned 582–602) added a new factor in the continuing conflict by creating an alliance with Childebert II of Austrasia (reigned 575–595). The armies of the Frankish King invaded the Lombard"
"to send troops through the Papal States to gain control of the Two Sicilies, which was granted on the condition that Rome was left undisturbed. In 1860, with much of the region already in rebellion against Papal rule, Sardinia conquered the eastern two-thirds of the Papal States and cemented its hold on the south. Bologna, Ferrara, Umbria, the Marches, Benevento and Pontecorvo were all formally annexed by November of the same year, and a unified Kingdom of Italy was declared. The Papal States were reduced to Latium, the immediate neighborhood of Rome. Rome was declared Capital of Italy in March"
"Duchy of Benevento: they include the city's walls, the church of Santa Sofia and the Rocca dei Rettori, one of the few surviving Lombard military structures, as well as other minor sites near Benevento and in the former duchy of Spoleto. The main surviving examples of Lombard architecture have been included in the Longobards in Italy, Places of Power (568-774 A.D.) site. This consists of seven places with notable architectural, artistic and sculptural, and it is in the UNESCO Heritage list since 2011. The most ancient edifices built by the Lombards in Italy, and in particular in their capital, Pavia,"
"Lombards in the middle of the 6th century, Syracuse became Byzantium's main western outpost. Latin was gradually supplanted by Greek as the national language and the Greek rites of the Eastern Church were adopted. The Byzantine Emperor Constans II decided to move from the capital Constantinople to Syracuse in Sicily in 663, the following year he launched an assault from Sicily against the Lombard Duchy of Benevento, which then occupied most of Southern Italy. The rumours that the capital of the empire was to be moved to Syracuse, along with small raids probably cost Constans his life as he was"
"War of the League of Cambrai. The Medici rule of Florence was thus restored. Soon after arriving back in Florence, Cardinal Giovanni de Medici was called to Rome. Pope Julius II had just died, and he needed to be present for the ensuing Papal conclave. Giovanni was elected Pope, taking the name Leo X. This effectively brought the Papal States and Florence into a personal union. Leo X ruled Florence by proxy, appointing his brother Giuliano de Medici, to rule in his place. Giuliano ruled Florence until his death in 1516, and was succeeded by Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino. He"
"would have to shelve any public office or political ambitions during il Magnifico's rule. When Lorenzo il Magnifico died (1492), Lorenzo and Giovanni sided against the il Magnifico's son, Piero (il Fatuo). Two years later they were exiled, but returned when King Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and Piero was ousted from Florence by a Republican government. The two brothers sided with the Republican party, and received the nickname ""Popolano"" (""of the people""). Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco became one of the most outstanding figures of the new administration, and was regarded by many as the cultural heir of il Magnifico."
"were significant events that changed the geopolitical situation of Italy. Lorenzo il Magnifico, whose shrewd policy had curbed claims and rivalries of the various Italian states, died on 8 April 1492. Pope Innocent VIII also died on 25 July of that year, and was replaced by Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who took the name of Pope Alexander VI. His election seemed to strengthen Caterina's rule. While she and her husband had lived in Rome, the Cardinal had often been a guest at their home, and he was godfather to Ottaviano. These events directly threatened the stability and peace in Italy. With"
"March of Verona The March of Verona and Aquileia was a vast march (frontier district) of the Holy Roman Empire in northeastern Italy during the Middle Ages, centered on the cities of Verona and Aquileia. Seized by King Otto I of Germany in 952, it was held by the Dukes of Bavaria; from 976 in personal union with the Duchy of Carinthia. The margravial regime ended with the advent of the Lombard League in 1167. The march roughly comprised the historic Friuli and Veneto regions from the border with Lombardy and the Chiese River in the west to the Tagliamento"
"part, which became the new province of Latina. Province of Rome The Province of Rome () was one of the five provinces of Lazio, Italy. In 2015 it became the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The Province of Rome was the most populous of Italy, and was essentially coterminous with the Rome metropolitan area. Rome was the provincial capital. The Province of Rome existed from 1870 to 31 December 2014. On 1 January 2015, it was replaced with a new administrative area, the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The province of Rome was established in 1870 after the Capture of"
"overlordship over northern Italy, and the formation of city-states such as Florence, Venice, Milan, Genoa or Siena. While Venice was turning to the seas, supporting, and acquiring large loot from, the 1204 Fourth Crusade's sack of Constantinople, the other city-states were struggling for control of mainland, Florence being the rising power of the time (annexation of Pisa in 1406). Sicily was invaded in 1266 by Charles I, duke of Anjou; the Angevines were however toppled in the 1282 Sicilian Vespers, and Peter III of Aragon invaded the island. This set the background for later French claims over Naples and Sicily."
"with neighbouring lands (Grotte di Castro, Latera, Gradoli, Bisentina island), the same area became part of the province of Val di Lago, ruled by Republic of Orvieto for a short time. In 1266, San Lorenzo took part of the Ghibellines expedition against Martana Island and other Guelphs centres but the next year it renewed its obedience to the Church. In 1294, San Lorenzo and other centres of Val di Lago, professed submission to Orvieto. It was the beginning of a series of disputes with Pope Boniface VIII. Orvieto, once excommunicated and placed under interdict, stopped any action contrary to the"