Piazza della Signoria
Piazza della Signoria |
The politics of Florence in the Renaissance built the foundations for the primal kill-or-be-killed attitude that we have become so accustomed to. Florentine government set the groundwork for many of the greedy, tyrannical central governments that have followed throughout the ages. |
Florence, like many other powerful city-states of Northern Italy, tyrannized the surrounding contado (smaller city-states), setting up an organized system of satellite nations resembling the Cold-war era Soviet Union. This hot-bed of Renaissance change claimed to be ruled in a noble constitutional way, much differently than many of their neighbors with their dictator-like despots. In reality, the government of Florence was run from the upper-levels of the palace of the Medici. The Medici's wealth and influence allowed them to set up puppet rulers that would govern the city to their advantage. Florentine government was based upon commerce and industry: whoever controlled the wealth controlled the government.
| Wealth, no matter how it was attained, was life's ultimate goal. Nicolo Machiavelli, famed author of The Prince and a Florentine citizen, depicted the Florentine governmental attitude best with the statement, "The ends justify the means." Machiavelli also stated, in reference to a ruler's policy, "keep his hands off the property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their fathers than the loss of their heritage." The government of Florence was a tyranny based upon wealth. Those in control of the money forced tyrannical rule down upon anyone they could. |  The Medici-Riccardi Palace by Michelozzo |