03. The Pope's Warrior

Following his trip to Naples, Lorenzo de' Medici is welcomed by the Florentines as a hero. The dark years of the Florentine Republic have allowed the Medici to show off his resolve.Lorenzo de' Medici, also known as "the needle of the scales," knew how to juggle the maze of Italian politics and did not hesitate to compromise in order to promise his Firenza a better future. In this final episode we retrace Lorenzo de' Medici's last years before his untimely death.

In the years following the Pazzi Conspiracy, Florence will be the center of a war that threatens the balance of the entire Italy. Lorenzo de' Medici's Republic is under attack by order of the bloodthirsty Sixtus IV: "Lorenzo the heretic," is how the head of the Church addresses the Medici in one of his papal bulls. This uncertain climate puts even the friendships the Magnifico had carefully built at risk: what is Lorenzo willing to do to save his own Florence?

The voice of Giovanni Battista di Montesecco has us relive the darkest hours of Medici Florence. When most of the conspirators have been found and punished, Montesecco, despite having refused the assignment to kill the Magnifico, still fears for his life. Devoured by guilt, the soldier takes refuge in a monastery. In this episode, we will retrace the last 9 days of Montesecco's life: the 9 days that preceded the precious confession that allowed us to discover the rawest background of the Congiura dei Pazzi.

The New Athens: so is the Florence of the Medici, a hub for intellectuals, artists, poets and architects. Giovanni Battista da Montesecco, the man who decided to spare Lorenzo de' Medici's life, recounts his encounters with the Magnifico and 15th-century Florence. A journey among the majestic churches and the small streets that innervate the Florentine city: in this installment, we will discover how the Medici family, and Lorenzo in particular, worked to make their Florence the jewel in the crown of all Italy.

Thanks to the confession of the soldier Giovanni Battista di Montesecco, it is possible to trace the dynamics and diplomatic conflicts that acted as a precursor to the tragedy of April 26, 1478. The Medici family was often the center of political disputes and violent battles over contested territories between the Florentine Republic and the Holy See. The bloody Pope Sixtus IV had unfinished business with Lorenzo the Magnificent and for this very reason decided to eliminate him once and for all.

Who is the man who caused the failure of the conspiracy hatched by the Church and the Pazzi family against Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici? Giovanni Battista da Montesecco, this is his name: a soldier of the papal army, hired as the Magnifico's killer.Assigned the task of telling us about Florence's darkest years, Montesecco now recounts the struggles and promises that led him to be a key player within the political games of the Italian Renaissance.

After witnessing his brother Giuliano’s killing, Lorenzo de’ Medici sees Florence turn into a bloodbath. The conspirators’ corpses hang loose from the bastions of Palazzo Vecchio while the people cry out for revenge: they shout the Medici name in a show of devotion.Who was Lorenzo the Magnificent for the people of Florence? As the law said, he was just a regular citizen, but he was capable of using his words as a weapon too.Lorenzo de’ Medici was destined to a magnificent future, and this is his story. Giovanni Battista da Montesecco, the man who refused to take part in the carnage that took place in Santa Maria del Fiore, tells us about Lorenzo de’ Medici.

April 26, 1478, Easter Sunday: in Florence, in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, during Mass, Giuliano de' Medici was brutally killed and his brother Lorenzo the Magnificent wounded. The Pazzi conspiracy has failed. But who are the instigators? How did we get to this terrifying page of history? Giovanni Battista da Montesecco (Derek Allen), the conspirator who refused at the last minute to carry out the heinous gesture, tells, in this first episode, how he was involved in this conspiracy that changed the course of the Renaissance forever.