What were the Crusades?

The Medici family was possibly the richest family in Florence if not Italy and directed the destiny of Florence from the 15th century until 1737. They were the great Tuscan merchant princes and their famous emblem, red balls on a field of gold, was originally a pawnbroker’s sign. (Canfield, 3) The family began to gain its wealth in the thirteenth century and increased even more in the fourteenth century through banking and commerce and along with …

…She further stipulated that this inheritance would be valid only if the masterpieces remained in Florence and were made accessible to people from every country. Thus the old Renaissance Florence was assured of remaining one of the world’s most important art centers. (Canfield, 23) To which countless admirers would make pilgrimages from every corner of the earth, there to pay homage and contemplate the diverse manifestations of beauty in the City of the Lily. (Brion, 204)