All About Royal Families

During our stay in Florence (Firenze) in Italy we saw the coat of arms of the de Medici family regularly. The House of Medici was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici during the first half of the 15th century.  The family originated in the Mugello region of Tuscany, and prospered gradually until it was able to fund the Medici Bank. This bank was the largest in Europe during the 15th century and facilitated the Medicis' rise to political power in Florence, although they officially remained citizens rather than monarchs until the 16th century. However they had the official title Grand Duke from 1569. However in this post we will not talk about the family members, but about their interesting and beautiful coat of arms, which you will see almost everywhere in Florence. The blazon of the de' Medici family is a golden shield with five red balls, and a blue one decorated with three golden

In June 2024, we had the chance to travel to Florence in Italy (Firenze).  We expected a lot from this amazing city but it more than lived up to the high expectations. We "knew" Florence a bit because of the royal family de' Medici, but the city offered much more royal destinations and royal history. I will tell about this in the coming weeks and months on this blog. In Firenze we saw interesting portraits and we "met" important figures in royal history. I'm still sorting out the many pictures we took. So, I hope you will enjoy my coming posts and video's!  By the way, let's hope the summer will last a bit longer. 

Cosimo de' Medici was born on June 12th. 1519 in Florence (Italy). Cosimo de'Medici - Source picture: Wikipedia His parents were Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and Maria Salviati. Cosimo was a member of the House of Medici although from a different  brand of the family. In June 1537 Cosimo was recognized as head of the Florence State by  Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. In 1539 he married Eleonora di Toledo, daughter of Don Pedro Alvarez  de Toledo  (Spanish Viceroy of Naples). They had 7 children together. In 1570, after the death of Eleonora, Cosimo married Camilla Martelli.  They had 1 child together. Cosimo I de' Medici died on April 21st. 1574. He was succeeded by  his son Francesco I de' Medici. He was buried in the Medici Chapel @ the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence. Legacy Like every de' Medici, Cosimo I was a patron of Art.  He also promoted the Navy of Florence. In Florence there is a big statue of Cosim