This Day in History: The Medici family was appointed official banker of the Papacy on this day in 1412. The Medici family has been called by some "The Greatest Family in History." They were a banking family that ruled Florence without actually ruling Florence and their bank was the largest in Europe at the time. "They were clothed with power but were too intelligent to use it upon a people as superior as the Florentines."~Fred DeArmond
During their time, Florence, Italy, was the center of the world. The Medici family claimed to have funded the invention of the piano and opera, financed the construction of Saint Peter's Basilica, and were patrons of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Machiavelli, Galileo among many others in the arts and sciences. Michelangelo lived with the family. They assisted in the creation of gelato and they even produced four popes and four queens. The roots of the Medici family, according to legend, comes from one of Charlemagne’s knights, Averardo, who slayed a giant that had been terrorizing people.
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