0:00:06 > 0:00:10Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance,
0:00:10 > 0:00:16and home to one of the most famous, or infamous, families in history -
0:00:16 > 0:00:17the Medici.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22A dynasty of bankers turned royals.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29The Medici were patrons of the finer things in life.
0:00:29 > 0:00:36Painters and sculptors and thinkers flourished at the Florentine court.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40The Renaissance shrank from the brute strength of medieval days,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44and instead embraced a new refinement and culture.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50It would take a special kind of ruler to marshal such talents -
0:00:50 > 0:00:53a stealthy, string-pulling kind or ruler.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57No wonder he's almost slipped through the net of history.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Now, you might have heard of Lorenzo the Magnificent,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04or what about the Medici Popes? There were four of them.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06But it was this guy who was the real deal -
0:01:06 > 0:01:10Grand Duke Cosimo I of Tuscany.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13He was reigning at the same time as the far better known
0:01:13 > 0:01:15Henry VIII of England,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19but it was Cosimo who wrote the book on how to be a Renaissance prince.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24He was ruthless and yet, at the same time, a man of culture.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Cosimo was arguably the greatest ruler you've never heard of.
0:01:31 > 0:01:37Cosimo became Duke of Florence unexpectedly in 1537.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41He was a distant cousin of the main branch of the family.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47His ancestors had been patrons of the arts since the 1400s...
0:01:49 > 0:01:52..encouraging the greatest flowering of Western Art
0:01:52 > 0:01:54since classical antiquity.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00But there'd also been a period of terrible artistic destruction
0:02:00 > 0:02:03driven by religious fervour.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07If Cosimo was to succeed,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11he had to restore the original ideals of the Renaissance...
0:02:13 > 0:02:17..of beauty, humanity and learning.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Under Cosimo, there would be a new age of portraiture...
0:02:26 > 0:02:28..and the nude.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33'Florentines would learn to enjoy themselves...'
0:02:33 > 0:02:36I'll tell you what, Paolo, this is la dolce vita, isn't it?
0:02:38 > 0:02:40'..in their dress...'
0:02:40 > 0:02:41What's this, Roberta?
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Wow, that is a real minestrone strainer, isn't it?
0:02:47 > 0:02:49'..even in the chivalry of their swordplay.'
0:02:51 > 0:02:56Cosimo set out to make Florence the most sophisticated city in Europe.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02But he would also usher in a new age of ambition and intrigue.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53The year was 1539.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58The young Cosimo, newly installed on the ducal throne of Florence,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00needed a grand gesture.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05What better way to announce himself
0:04:05 > 0:04:08and his vision than to throw a lavish party?
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Everyone loves a wedding, don't they?
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Especially a royal wedding.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44The groom, Cosimo de Medici, cut a dashing figure at just 20 years old.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52His blushing bride, Eleonora of Toledo,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55was a 17-year-old Spanish princess.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10The marriage brought Cosimo lots of money and glamour.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16But it was also that rare thing - a royal love match.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20It was a brilliant start to Cosimo's reign.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Eleonora was shown off everywhere in Florence,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34the original trophy wife, and thousands turned out to see her.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39Everywhere she paraded she was serenaded by choirs,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42orchestras, volleys of fireworks.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48The thousand-strong wedding party included trumpeters,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52scantily clad dancers, jousters,
0:05:52 > 0:05:58horses decorated in fine harnesses, even professional footballers -
0:05:58 > 0:06:01the Posh and Becks of the day weren't about to miss this event.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09The party went on for days. The pomp and pageantry,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11the feasts and festivities,
0:06:11 > 0:06:16they all sent a message - the new court was to be a splendid affair,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18and everyone was invited.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Florence hadn't seen a party like it for years.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25There was free cake for everybody,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and the fountains overflowed with wine.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29Salute!
0:06:37 > 0:06:40What do you do if you're a Renaissance monarch
0:06:40 > 0:06:43and you ascend the throne, albeit a ducal throne,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47only to find you haven't got a palace to call your own?
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Well, that's easily fixed - you just annex the old town hall.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Painters and decorators from all across the city
0:07:04 > 0:07:08were called in to transform what had been a slightly dreary
0:07:08 > 0:07:13municipal building into a royal residence that proclaimed a new age.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19This used to be the people's space, at the heart of their city.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24Now it was the centre of Cosimo's court.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30In theory, everybody was equal under this massive roof in the old days,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32at least that was the idea.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35But now the new disposition was that one voice
0:07:35 > 0:07:39and one voice alone mattered - the duke's.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47This great, overblown cartoon strip, really, that's what it is,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50of Cosimo's glory and his righteousness
0:07:50 > 0:07:55reaches a kind of blasphemous finale with the apotheosis.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59There's the duke rising up into heaven,
0:07:59 > 0:08:04crowned by Florence, the feminine figure representing the city.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Elsewhere in Italy at this time artists who would become
0:08:08 > 0:08:11world-renowned were putting saints
0:08:11 > 0:08:14and members of the holy family on the ceiling.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Here it was just a man.
0:08:21 > 0:08:22Every wall and ceiling
0:08:22 > 0:08:25proclaims the absolute prowess of the new monarch...
0:08:27 > 0:08:31..Cosimo the brave,
0:08:31 > 0:08:33Cosimo the wise...
0:08:37 > 0:08:40..Cosimo the visionary.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Even Cosimo - classical hero.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49And everywhere his distinctive coat of arms bears down upon you.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52It cost a fortune, but it was cheap at the price
0:08:52 > 0:08:55to turn a mere man into a monarch.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Perhaps for the first time, though certainly not the last,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03a banker was getting well above himself.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Cosimo was a monarch in need of some regalia.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24Today, at the old ducal treasury, one splendid surviving piece
0:09:24 > 0:09:27hints at the magnificence of his crown jewels.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35It's an altarpiece commemorating one of his descendants.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43He's Cosimo II, grandson of the duke,
0:09:43 > 0:09:47and what he's worshipping are the old boy's tools of the trade,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49his crown and sceptre.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52He's like an operatic tenor at La Scala -
0:09:52 > 0:09:56hymning, celebrating these baubles.
0:09:56 > 0:10:02They rest on the beautiful red-damask drapery of this altar,
0:10:02 > 0:10:07achieved through jasper, fringed with real gold.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11Cosimo II is wearing his grandfather's official robes,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14and they're brilliantly, dazzlingly realised here
0:10:14 > 0:10:18through enamel, chased gold and diamonds.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31This is how our Cosimo would have looked at his most regal.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35His ducal crown was a Renaissance masterpiece.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Today, Florentine master goldsmith Paolo Penko
0:10:42 > 0:10:45still marvels at the artistry of his predecessors.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53The ducal crown is no longer with us, it's lost, but what was it like?
0:11:33 > 0:11:38If you were going to make the crown, any idea how much it would cost?
0:11:38 > 0:11:39Just between us.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08A Renaissance city was only as great as its art and architecture,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11and Duke Cosimo had a problem.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Florence's most famous artist, Michelangelo,
0:12:15 > 0:12:21had defected to Rome to create such wonders as the world-famous ceiling
0:12:21 > 0:12:24of the Sistine Chapel.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29Cosimo needed to get Michelangelo back to Florence.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33But it wasn't going to be easy.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Cosimo had begun writing Michelangelo
0:12:38 > 0:12:42cringe-makingly heartfelt letters, basically fan mail,
0:12:42 > 0:12:47in which he attempted to persuade him to return to Florence.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51In one he says, "We do exhort and entreat you with all of our hearts,"
0:12:51 > 0:12:53that's the royal we,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57"assuring you that to us it would be most gratifying to see you."
0:12:57 > 0:13:00And he goes on to say, "You can come and go as you please,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02"you can live as you choose.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06"For us, it would be enough just to have you here."
0:13:06 > 0:13:10For the duke, to woo Michelangelo, to get him back into the fold,
0:13:10 > 0:13:15into court, well, that would really put the froth on his cappuccino.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23Sometime earlier, before Michelangelo left Florence for Rome,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26he'd created the ultimate symbol of the city.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Powerful, but beautiful,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35strong, but sensitive,
0:13:35 > 0:13:40David, the boy who killed the giant, Goliath,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44proclaiming the triumph of the weak over the strong.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Now the figure of David stood outside Cosimo's palace -
0:13:48 > 0:13:51a silent and yet nagging reminder
0:13:51 > 0:13:54of the artist who'd refused to return.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04Cosimo had to find another sculptor to create a symbol of the new age.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09He chose Benvenuto Cellini,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13who would use classical mythology as his inspiration.
0:14:26 > 0:14:32Cellini's monumental Perseus slaying Medusa is a fantastic combination
0:14:32 > 0:14:36of the elegant, the refined,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38and the utterly lurid and gory.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45In the myth, the allegory,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Perseus has brought peace back to Ethiopia
0:14:48 > 0:14:52by slaying the gorgon Medusa.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56And this was read in these parts, not least by Cosimo and his court,
0:14:56 > 0:15:00as testament and tribute to what he'd done in getting rid
0:15:00 > 0:15:05of the republic and replacing it with his dukedom - with monarchy.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Cellini really has a field day here,
0:15:10 > 0:15:15representing Perseus as a cold, ruthless, single-minded,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Mafiosi-style killer -
0:15:18 > 0:15:22that in itself a reference to Cosimo's cold-eyed rule.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27It drips with viscera.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31Cellini was really enjoying himself here,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33going for the full Hammer horror.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40Not only does her head spew blood and gore,
0:15:40 > 0:15:45but so does her poor severed neck here.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48It's a fountain of innards.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54A bit of a parody or maybe an homage to the Sistine Chapel,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58the last flicker of life in the extended finger there.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Cosimo was pleased with the Perseus,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09a figure that defined a new identity for the city.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12But when court artists turned their hand to a portrait
0:16:12 > 0:16:16of Cosimo himself, things would go badly wrong.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31Down the road at the Bargello, Cellini's strapping bust of Cosimo
0:16:31 > 0:16:34lurks in a neglected corner.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Even today, it's strangely unloved.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46And this is what Cellini came up with -
0:16:46 > 0:16:50a great hunk of bronze in more senses than one.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54You want to rap it with your knuckles just to hear it clang,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57though I doubt the curators would appreciate that.
0:16:57 > 0:17:04This is Cosimo, yes, as Duke of Florence, but also as Caesar.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06Cosimo the comic-book hero.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09Look at the size of the man's pecs,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12he's been spending some time in the gym.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18Eagles tweak at his nipples - more than tweak, they bite them.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22But does Cosimo start out in pain? He certainly doesn't.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28How good is this piece of work?
0:17:28 > 0:17:32Well, a courtier of Cosimo's described him in a note
0:17:32 > 0:17:34in this fashion.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38He said, "His eyes are large, his forehead wide,
0:17:38 > 0:17:43"his beard strong, and the gaze of his eye will strike terror."
0:17:47 > 0:17:52And that's one aspect of Cosimo that Cellini has definitely caught here.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56You really wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of him
0:17:56 > 0:17:59when he was in that mood.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04The only problem was Cosimo hated it.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Perhaps it was a little too lifelike.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10This kind of look would have been fine for the medieval period,
0:18:10 > 0:18:15when a prince could be a barbarian and slake his every desire.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19But it just didn't cut it for the new Renaissance era.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23Now a ruler would certainly still get his own way
0:18:23 > 0:18:27but do so without seeming to invest much effort in it,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29without breaking sweat,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32let alone with the eyes popping out of his head.
0:18:42 > 0:18:48So Cosimo still needed a portrait of himself to help define the age.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52Something that would cast him as a great Renaissance monarch -
0:18:52 > 0:18:55strong but just,
0:18:55 > 0:18:59forceful and yet civilised,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01a warrior with a heart.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05It was an artist's nightmare.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10Who could pull off such a balancing act?
0:19:11 > 0:19:16The answer lay in the relatively untested skills of Agnolo Bronzino.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Now, this was a bit more like it.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Here was a painting that Cosimo could live with on his walls,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27and I think you can see why.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34He's still very much in charge, he's the ruler,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36and a military ruler at that.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41You can't miss the splendid armour that Bronzino has rendered here.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46He's actually made him rather slimmer than that Cellini bust,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49which is part of the reason it satisfied the Duke.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Essentially, though, here is a man
0:19:54 > 0:19:58who is rational, composed, in charge.
0:19:58 > 0:20:03If he wants to get even with you, he will do it in his own good time.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07Revenge - a dish in Italy best served cold.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12Compared to that Cellini offering, this is less psycho, more capo.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17He's a prince of secrets, emerging from the darkness.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24At all events, Cosimo was so pleased with this picture,
0:20:24 > 0:20:25he had copies of it made.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27It was his official likeness,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30and you could see it everywhere his writ ran.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Bronzino became the court artist,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39and the Duke refused to sit even for the mighty Titian.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45This portrait became a powerful template -
0:20:45 > 0:20:50the pose and look were copied and were updated across the years,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53but were unmistakably Bronzino's invention.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59The artist had branded the age of Cosimo.
0:21:16 > 0:21:22Modern Florence still salutes the Renaissance love of naked flesh.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25And, as the painter of the age,
0:21:25 > 0:21:29Bronzino couldn't resist indulging his own flourish of nudity.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35The ancient world of Rome and Greece had celebrated the naked form -
0:21:35 > 0:21:39its heroes and gods were seldom clothed.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44But for more than a thousand years, since the advent of Christianity,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48the naked body spoke of carnality and sin.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53Now Bronzino would deliver an image of monarchy
0:21:53 > 0:21:55quite inconceivable today.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Bronzino had painted the Duke as you'd never imagine him
0:22:01 > 0:22:04appearing in a portrait, and I think it's the most extraordinary,
0:22:04 > 0:22:08candid, intimate picture of a ruler I've ever seen.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Bronzino depicts Cosimo as Orpheus,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17the hero of a story of passionate, undying love.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21And that proved to be prophetic, because the Duke and his wife
0:22:21 > 0:22:27were seldom parted and had an enduring and intense relationship.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34On the one hand, this is an enchanting love token.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39An intimate exchange between Cosimo and his wife.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42It's almost as if he'd sent her a selfie -
0:22:42 > 0:22:44not through the medium of an iPad,
0:22:44 > 0:22:49but with the good offices of an old master, Bronzino.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Cosimo here is an ardent young man,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58impatient to get his hands on his new wife.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03At the same time, he's an exemplar of the new, of modernity,
0:23:03 > 0:23:05of a new wave in art.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41Renaissance life wasn't all spangled parties and old masters,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44there was plenty of room for the dark arts, too,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47and nobody understood that side of court life
0:23:47 > 0:23:49better than Niccolo Machiavelli.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56In a world still dominated by religion,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Machiavelli's great work, The Prince,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02took a long, hard look at human nature,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05and decided ambitious men would do better
0:24:05 > 0:24:08if they were more cynical about the world around them.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Machiavelli's The Prince is a bracingly unsentimental primer
0:24:15 > 0:24:18on how to cheat and deceive your way to the top.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Principles were for losers, he said,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25to be jettisoned in pursuit of fame, success, wealth.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Although his apologists would say he was just describing
0:24:29 > 0:24:31the way the world was.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Here's what Machiavelli wrote about you and I,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38"One can make this generalisation about men -
0:24:38 > 0:24:41"they are ungrateful, fickle liars and deceivers.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45"They shun danger and are greedy for profit.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48"While you treat them well, they are yours."
0:24:53 > 0:24:57Machiavellian philosophy transported Cosimo from a world
0:24:57 > 0:25:02of medieval piety to sharp-elbowed modern politics.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07And the influence of Machiavelli's thinking
0:25:07 > 0:25:09is still all around us today.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16You can't help feeling that many politicians and their aides,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19and by no means only here in Italy, would have been out of business
0:25:19 > 0:25:21but for this character...
0:25:22 > 0:25:25..the patron saint of spin.
0:25:37 > 0:25:4116th-century Florence was a dangerous place.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45The Medici family had many enemies
0:25:45 > 0:25:48and they'd often been targeted by jealous assassins.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52For the new, young ruler,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54it was going to be tough just to stay alive.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Cosimo was not a man to be trifled with -
0:26:02 > 0:26:05ruthlessness became his metier.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09For instance, what was he to do with his cadre of Italian generals?
0:26:09 > 0:26:10Could he trust them?
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Didn't they harbour ambitions themselves?
0:26:13 > 0:26:16He simply fired them all and had them replaced
0:26:16 > 0:26:18with an army of mercenaries -
0:26:18 > 0:26:21300 men from Germany and the Low Countries.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25They owed their allegiance to Cosimo and to Cosimo alone.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32It fell to Cosimo's German guard
0:26:32 > 0:26:35to thwart the many attempts on his life.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39Protecting the Duke was no easy feat because his business affairs
0:26:39 > 0:26:41took him all over the city.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46His would-be assassins were as dastardly as they were persistent -
0:26:46 > 0:26:49snipers laid in wait for him,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53his face towels were impregnated with poison,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56and his enemies even hid a macabre apparatus
0:26:56 > 0:27:00of spears and swords beneath the waters of the River Arno,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03at the very spot where he liked to bathe.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Then one courtier came up with an ingenious solution...
0:27:12 > 0:27:14..a secret elevated corridor
0:27:14 > 0:27:18which allowed Cosimo to move around the city without being seen.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27He could even look down on his subjects as he went.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34Built by architect Georgio Vasari,
0:27:34 > 0:27:39this astonishing structure still swoops across the River Arno -
0:27:39 > 0:27:44an extra storey on the great Ponte Vecchio bridge
0:27:44 > 0:27:47as it extends its reach right across the city.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51This is so exciting.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58The Vasari Corridor, as it's now known, is still off limits
0:27:58 > 0:28:03to the general public, especially the section which crosses the river.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05But I'm getting privileged entry.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33Today it's used as an overflow for the Uffizi art gallery.
0:28:35 > 0:28:40But it's still a private and exclusive vantage point on the city.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45On the other side of the river,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Cosimo was even able to make his religious observances
0:28:49 > 0:28:53without leaving the safety of his bespoke walkway.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10The way Vasari designed the corridor, it actually passed through
0:29:10 > 0:29:13the back of the Santa Felicita Church,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17so that Cosimo and his family could come here and attend Mass
0:29:17 > 0:29:19through this peephole
0:29:19 > 0:29:23without the risk of murderers getting to their Communion wine -
0:29:23 > 0:29:25a very real danger.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30With the help of Giorgio Vasari,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Cosimo had adroitly outsmarted his enemies.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52Cosimo's court prized classical proportion and symmetry.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55And what was true for buildings and gardens
0:29:55 > 0:29:57was also true for the human body.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01Renaissance theories of architecture
0:30:01 > 0:30:05and physical perfection mirrored one another -
0:30:05 > 0:30:10humanity at its most refined was on display.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12But when it came to real-life courtiers,
0:30:12 > 0:30:16Cosimo's favourite didn't quite fit the mould.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28And here he is, the prince's favourite familiar,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30Morgante the dwarf -
0:30:30 > 0:30:33naked and riding a tortoise.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36He seems to be saying, "Nothing to see here,
0:30:36 > 0:30:40"just a guy out for a ride on his amphibian, deal with it."
0:30:43 > 0:30:48His job essentially was to amuse Cosimo and to make him look good.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Where he was on the short side,
0:30:51 > 0:30:53and carrying a certain amount of heft,
0:30:53 > 0:30:58Cosimo appeared all the taller, all the slenderer.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02If the Duke went out hunting on a fine stallion,
0:31:02 > 0:31:06poor old Morgante was bringing up the rear on his tortoise.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19In Cosimo's day, and, let's face it, until quite recently,
0:31:19 > 0:31:22it was assumed that physical deformity
0:31:22 > 0:31:25must be mirrored by a weakness in the mind.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29So Morgante made his living by playing the fool.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31He deliberately lost at cards,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35and his raucous, outrageous behaviour
0:31:35 > 0:31:38was the source of great amusement to people at court.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42But, like the fool in Shakespeare's Lear,
0:31:42 > 0:31:47Morgante was one of the few people who dared tell the truth to Cosimo.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Morgante's life at court was bittersweet.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02On the one hand, he was forced to perform in demeaning entertainments,
0:32:02 > 0:32:06on the other, the Duke showered him with gifts,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09including land and houses.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11And then there was ultimate honour -
0:32:11 > 0:32:15a handsome portrait by Cosimo's court painter.
0:32:18 > 0:32:23Bronzino renders Morgante with some dignity here,
0:32:23 > 0:32:25at least compared to that sculpture.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28He's seen as a classical figure.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32He's out hunting. He's a man of virility and action.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36This is also a bravura artistic work.
0:32:36 > 0:32:41Bronzino was locked in a furious debate with a man called Varchi
0:32:41 > 0:32:44about which was better, painting or sculpture.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Varchi said it's got to be sculpture -
0:32:47 > 0:32:51you can see more than one side of a figure at the same time.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53Bronzino said, no,
0:32:53 > 0:32:57he said follow the eyes of Morgante,
0:32:57 > 0:33:01and we can go around and see him looking over his shoulder at us.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06So painting is at least the equal of a marble.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23Morgante was such a beloved and treasured figure
0:33:23 > 0:33:26at the court of Cosimo that when he sadly passed away
0:33:26 > 0:33:31the Duke immediately hired a new dwarf and called him Morgante.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44The Renaissance elevated hand-to-hand combat
0:33:44 > 0:33:46into an elegant choreography.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52Gone was the machismo of medieval jousting.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56Fights, though still deadly, were now a courtly dance.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03Chief choreographer was Camillo Agrippa,
0:34:03 > 0:34:07author of A Treatise on the Science of Arms,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11published in 1553 and dedicated to Cosimo.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Master of arms at the Accademia Schermistica,
0:34:19 > 0:34:23Lucio Nugnes is going to put me through my paces.
0:34:48 > 0:34:54Agrippa's treatise on swordplay demands a core repertoire of moves.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57There are four basic positions.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04All thrusts should be made with a quick wheel-like motion.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16Use fancy footwork, keep your sword in position,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19and your body out of harm's way.
0:35:33 > 0:35:34Super!
0:35:36 > 0:35:40And finally, to anticipate your opponent's potentially lethal
0:35:40 > 0:35:44thrust, keep your eyes firmly fixed on his sword hand.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52I'm getting the hang of this...
0:35:52 > 0:35:54up to a point.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14Grazie.
0:36:21 > 0:36:26100 miles east of Florence is the city of Urbino.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31It was here that Italy's rule book of courtly etiquette was written.
0:36:31 > 0:36:37Il Libro del Cortegiano - The Book of the Courtier.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41It contained handy hints for negotiating the many
0:36:41 > 0:36:45pitfalls of court life,
0:36:45 > 0:36:46from picking up women...
0:36:49 > 0:36:52..to how to crack jokes
0:36:52 > 0:36:56and, in true Italian style, how to dress.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59- Prego.- Grazie, signor.- Prego.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04There was a simple rule of thumb
0:37:04 > 0:37:08when it came to snappy dressing in the Renaissance: never forget your
0:37:08 > 0:37:13three "N"s. Nuevo, netto and nero.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17New, neat and, above all, black.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34It's like putting on a small parachute.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36Italian black was sober,
0:37:36 > 0:37:41restrained and tasteful, except perhaps in one department.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44What's this, Roberta?
0:37:44 > 0:37:50This is called "braghetta" in Italian and "codpiece" in English.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54Costume historian Roberta Orsi Landini is helping me
0:37:54 > 0:37:57get to grips with a paradox of Renaissance fashion -
0:37:57 > 0:38:01when chic black was coupled with the attention-seeking codpiece.
0:38:01 > 0:38:08It's a very unmistakable shape, Roberta. Why is that?
0:38:08 > 0:38:11It was a shape that suggested
0:38:11 > 0:38:16the virility, the strength of a man.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19Back in those Renaissance days, Roberta,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23was the codpiece anatomically correct?
0:38:23 > 0:38:26Of course not, it was a fake.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30They want to appear bigger than they are, of course.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34Is this a practical thing though, Roberta,
0:38:34 > 0:38:38or is it all about male showing-off?
0:38:38 > 0:38:41It is about mainly showing off.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45But it can be used as a pocket, for example.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49So you could keep your keys in there or some change?
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Keys, of course, change, handkerchief, something like that.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Someone would say, "Where are my keys?
0:38:55 > 0:38:58- "Oh, I think they're here in my codpiece."- Yes.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00And nobody thought it was a bit strange or
0:39:00 > 0:39:03funny in the old days to be advertising,
0:39:03 > 0:39:10drawing attention to your...what shall we say, your finer parts?
0:39:10 > 0:39:13But I think that was normal for the time.
0:39:13 > 0:39:19They don't see it as we see it.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23As a lady, do you regret the passing of the codpiece?
0:39:23 > 0:39:25- Oh, no, no, of course not!- You don't?
0:39:25 > 0:39:28Because it's very indecent, I think.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31- Very indecent?- Indecent.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35Don't you think there's a certain comedy about it, perhaps?
0:39:35 > 0:39:40I don't think so, I think that normal pockets are better.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44And how do I look in the gear, would you say?
0:39:44 > 0:39:50It fitted not so well but you can cover it with a coat.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52Oh, there's more. OK, why not?
0:39:58 > 0:40:00Now, that's... I like that.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02You like that? That is comfortable.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06It's slightly dressy, maybe. I don't know.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10So when you arrived somewhere and you greeted everybody,
0:40:10 > 0:40:13you would do that and they immediately see your codpiece?
0:40:13 > 0:40:15No, I don't think so.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17Let's not go there, all right. Thank you very much.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20Bye.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Believe it or not, the men of Cosimo's court
0:40:39 > 0:40:42were practically metrosexual.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46They attached huge importance to personal appearance
0:40:46 > 0:40:52and grooming, although we've yet to find firm evidence of moisturiser.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56Having said that,
0:40:56 > 0:41:02what I'm doing here now would have been anathema to them. Shaving?!
0:41:02 > 0:41:06But a man's very essence was in his beard.
0:41:07 > 0:41:13In England, Henry VIII offered a tantalising glimpse of chin.
0:41:13 > 0:41:19Francis I, King of France, sported a facial pelmet of man-fur.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23And there's something of the night
0:41:23 > 0:41:28about the beard of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34Barbering was a vital occupation at the Florentine court.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40Gabriele Filistrucci's family has been in the beard
0:41:40 > 0:41:45and wig-making game for over 300 years.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56Wow, that is a real minestrone strainer, isn't it?
0:41:56 > 0:42:02Well, here he is - so what style would you call this?
0:42:51 > 0:42:54- What were the different styles? Hang on, hang on!- I'm sorry.
0:42:56 > 0:42:57Easy.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01Is Cosimo, I remove Cosimo, OK?
0:43:11 > 0:43:13- The Pope.- The Pope.
0:43:13 > 0:43:14That's got something.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19Roy Wood used to have one like this in Wizzard.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23HE SIGHS
0:43:23 > 0:43:27I feel a bit like a sort of an Alsatian or a yeti.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39The term "Renaissance man" has become shorthand for a particular
0:43:39 > 0:43:43kind of genius.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48One adept at a variety of disciplines.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52Multi-tasking was a signature of the age.
0:43:53 > 0:43:58Marrying the scientific with the artistic,
0:43:58 > 0:44:03inventive men were central to the working of Cosimo's court.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06And one particularly gifted individual
0:44:06 > 0:44:09seemed to offer more than most.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16Bernadaro Buontalenti was the courtier whose gifts just
0:44:16 > 0:44:18went on giving.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22He actually was that much-spotted figure, the Renaissance man.
0:44:22 > 0:44:27Architect, stage designer, inventor of mad self-propelled machines.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30He came up with an incredible,
0:44:30 > 0:44:34edible treat that was bound to tickle the Duke's fancy.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42Ice cream - in a pre-refrigerated age, it was nothing short
0:44:42 > 0:44:43of a miracle.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51And today Paolo Pomposi is still making ice cream to that
0:44:51 > 0:44:53original recipe.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45Now, Paolo, you've got all this gubbins here,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49if I can use the technical term, to make ice cream now.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53What about Buontalenti? It was very primitive back then...
0:46:45 > 0:46:51Mmm, it's good. I can almost taste the snow from the Apennines.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57I tell you what, Paolo, this is la dolce vita, isn't it?
0:46:57 > 0:46:59Mm!
0:47:12 > 0:47:15Every Italian city needed the relics,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18the bones of a venerated saint...
0:47:20 > 0:47:24..in order to attract pilgrims and hence their cash.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29But the Renaissance was an age when people began to exult
0:47:29 > 0:47:33artistic genius almost as much as religious virtue.
0:47:38 > 0:47:44On the 18th of February 1564, Michelangelo, the artist
0:47:44 > 0:47:47who got away, died in Rome.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54Cosimo's attempts to get him home had proved hopeless,
0:47:54 > 0:47:57but he wasn't beaten yet.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00At the monastery attached to the Church of the Saints
0:48:00 > 0:48:02of the Apostles, in Rome,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06the monks prepared for the burial of Italy's greatest artist.
0:48:12 > 0:48:13- Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17'Franciscan friar Father Maximilian has agreed to talk to me
0:48:17 > 0:48:20'about what happened here.'
0:48:54 > 0:48:56Two henchmen, working on the orders of Cosimo,
0:48:56 > 0:49:00had broken into the monastery cloisters to steal
0:49:00 > 0:49:05the body of Michelangelo before he was even in his grave.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11Tell me more about this extraordinary case of...
0:49:11 > 0:49:14it's sort of premature grave robbing, isn't it,
0:49:14 > 0:49:15when the body was taken away.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19That's quite an event.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21Si, it's an event.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52They put Michelangelo's body in a cart along with other bundles
0:49:52 > 0:49:56and packages and sped off as fast as they could to
0:49:56 > 0:50:00the gates of Rome, hoping the guards would let them through unmolested
0:50:00 > 0:50:03and they could return in triumph to Florence
0:50:03 > 0:50:08with the body of that city's most famous son.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14They were lucky and made it home.
0:50:14 > 0:50:19In Florence, Cosimo's men were waiting to receive the body.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23Now preparations could begin.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28It was quite simply the most extraordinary spectacle
0:50:28 > 0:50:33this old town had ever seen. Michelangelo, a genius, true,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37but a flesh-and-blood genius after all - a man -
0:50:37 > 0:50:40was beatified, turned into a saint.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43He became to Florence what St Mark
0:50:43 > 0:50:49and St Peter, Christ's own apostles, were to Venice and Rome.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54It was as though the artist was up there on par with
0:50:54 > 0:50:57those disciples.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00He would be interred in the church
0:51:00 > 0:51:04Florence reserves for its greatest heroes, Santa Croce.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08The tomb itself would be a triumph of Florentine art.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20Michelangelo had defied the Duke in life
0:51:20 > 0:51:23but it was Cosimo who had the last word.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27The artist was buried here in what amounted to a state funeral.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31The finest talents of the Florentine academy were entrained
0:51:31 > 0:51:36to create a tomb worthy of the great man, and of the great occasion.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Bronzino, Cellini
0:51:39 > 0:51:41and crucially, above all, Vasari,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44who designed this extraordinary sepulchre.
0:51:44 > 0:51:49He wrote that not even a pope or an emperor would get a better
0:51:49 > 0:51:54send-off than Florence would mount for Michelangelo, its prodigal son.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03The three weeping maidens at the bottom represent
0:52:03 > 0:52:08a trinity of the great disciplines in which Michelangelo excelled.
0:52:08 > 0:52:13On the left, a figure representing the art of painting.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15She's holding a sculpture
0:52:15 > 0:52:18but she's also holding paint brushes in her other hand.
0:52:18 > 0:52:24She's going to commit a likeness of that torso to canvas.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28In the middle, the figure represents the art,
0:52:28 > 0:52:31the discipline of sculpture.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34She holds a chisel and a block of pure marble.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41And over on the right, this figure stands for architecture.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44She's holding what may be a set of plans in one hand
0:52:44 > 0:52:47and a pair of dividers in the other.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51And above them,
0:52:51 > 0:52:56the great, craggy, benign figure of Michelangelo himself.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03Vasari was inconsolable at the death of his idol.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06He claims to have witnessed a near miracle when Michelangelo's
0:53:06 > 0:53:11body was finally returned to the city 25 days after his death.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15He said that they found it "perfect in every part
0:53:15 > 0:53:17"and so free from any evil odour
0:53:17 > 0:53:21"we were tempted to believe he had merely drifted into a sweet
0:53:21 > 0:53:23"and quiet sleep".
0:53:23 > 0:53:28The canonisation of the artist was assured.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51Towards the end of his life, the Grand Duke
0:53:51 > 0:53:53cut a much-diminished figure.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55He'd always been ruthless
0:53:55 > 0:53:58but that had been tempered by his love of his family.
0:53:58 > 0:54:04However, in an annus horribilis, a malaria epidemic swept away
0:54:04 > 0:54:06his wife, two of his sons
0:54:06 > 0:54:09and two of his daughters, including his favourite, Maria.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26Life no longer held any savour for Cosimo.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30He handed over most of his power to another son,
0:54:30 > 0:54:34and retreated into an unlikely late career as a womaniser,
0:54:34 > 0:54:39or else into the shuttered seclusion of his lonely apartments.
0:54:39 > 0:54:45After a series of debilitating strokes, he died in 1574.
0:54:49 > 0:54:54But the Medici name would live on, immortalised for ever
0:54:54 > 0:54:58in the world of astronomy and mathematics.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05Cosimo liked to keep a pet mathematician at court, someone
0:55:05 > 0:55:10he could consult on rarefied matters like ancient Greek geometry
0:55:10 > 0:55:12and the movement of heavenly bodies.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15It was all a far cry from the superstition
0:55:15 > 0:55:20of medieval times. The post of numbers man to the Duke
0:55:20 > 0:55:22would go on to inspire and sustain
0:55:22 > 0:55:26one of the greatest thinkers in world history.
0:55:32 > 0:55:37Galileo Galilei was just a young boy when Cosimo died.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42But the artistic and intellectual life of the Florentine court
0:55:42 > 0:55:46under Duke Cosimo had inspired him.
0:55:51 > 0:55:56The Arcetri Observatory on the edge of Florence is on the very hillside
0:55:56 > 0:55:59where Galileo made his observations.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02'His discoveries would help to shatter the medieval
0:56:02 > 0:56:08'belief system which insisted that the cosmos revolved around Earth.'
0:56:08 > 0:56:12That's very pleasing, isn't it?
0:56:16 > 0:56:20Today, astronomer Paolo Totsi enjoys the same view,
0:56:20 > 0:56:23and we're going to spot the Medici Constellation.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30Oh, that's good.
0:56:32 > 0:56:33That's very clear, isn't it?
0:56:36 > 0:56:37Isn't it exciting?
0:56:37 > 0:56:40- So those are the Medici stars, is that right?- Yes.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50How important was Galileo's discovery of the Medici Stars
0:56:50 > 0:56:52all those years ago?
0:56:52 > 0:56:58The Medicia Sidera, like Galileo called them,
0:56:58 > 0:57:03they are the four major satellites of Jupiter.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08Jupiter is the biggest planet of our solar system
0:57:08 > 0:57:13and now we know today that it has a lot of satellites.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16However, four of them are quite prominent
0:57:16 > 0:57:21and they are big, mostly like our moon, to give you an example.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25So, studying the position of these satellites, around Jupiter,
0:57:25 > 0:57:29he could tell that they were orbiting Jupiter.
0:57:29 > 0:57:31And this was the main discovery.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34Yes, up until that point
0:57:34 > 0:57:36people believed something else altogether, didn't they?
0:57:36 > 0:57:39Everything was orbiting around... was, you know,
0:57:39 > 0:57:41had a revolution around the Earth.
0:57:41 > 0:57:47This observation was a revolution, because for the first time
0:57:47 > 0:57:53we saw something orbiting around another heavenly body
0:57:53 > 0:57:56and this was not expected.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59In this history of great scientific breakthroughs,
0:57:59 > 0:58:04where would you put Galileo uncovering the Medici stars?
0:58:04 > 0:58:08He was really opening the window on a completely new world.
0:58:08 > 0:58:14And this was really the beginning of our modern view of the universe,
0:58:14 > 0:58:17it was the beginning of modern science.
0:58:28 > 0:58:30Heavenly art flourished
0:58:30 > 0:58:34in an atmosphere of strong government and lavish patronage.
0:58:38 > 0:58:41And the stars smiled on a new kind of artistic outrageousness
0:58:41 > 0:58:48and absolute rule in 17th-century France, under the Sun King.
0:58:48 > 0:58:50But that's for next time.