Originally textile traders and then wealthy bankers, the noble Medici clan ruled Florence for centuries, producing three popes, two queens of France, a slew of Grand Dukes and an incomparable art collection. Begin with the Medici’s early residence, the Palazzo Medici Riccardi. View the Medici Chapels in the Basilica of San Lorenzo and the tomb of Lorenzo the Magnificent in Michelangelo’s New Sacristy. Stroll the city’s piazzas where Medici-commissioned statues and monuments bolstered Florence’s ethereal beauty. Learn about the intrigues and stratagems that maintained Medici power. End at the Palazzo Pitti where in 1743 the last Medici willed the family’s artistic treasures to the City of Florence.