Dear Cousin,
I hope this finds you well in Venice. I hear your banking house is thriving. Can you believe it has been ten years since the exile? I am still in charge of running affairs in Florence and oh you would not believe what Uncle Giovanni has me doing this time! Take pity on your poor cousin Lorenzo, for I will need a miracle to pull this one off.
I am sure that you have heard by now of the statue that trader Michelangelo made for the Pazzi. Pazzi! Pft! I spit on all their graves! Well, word of the statue got back to Uncle and he was irate. He instructed me to have something even more extravagant commissioned from the only artist who could ever hope to show up our Michelangelo: Leonardo da Vinci! Oh Cousin I just about died right there! Leonardo da Vinci! I mean I know the man is a genius, but do you have any idea how hard he is to pin down? He has a way of slithering out of every obligation he agrees to! Once, in Milan, I got him to agree to paint Nana Antonia for Papa Cosimo, but all I ever got was a sketch! Granted it was a wonderful sketch, Papa Cosimo even framed it; but a sketch is hardly a painting! Worse than that he and Michelangelo already hate each other!
Oh Cousin, what shall I do? Uncle Giovanni didn’t even tell me what he wanted commissioned! Just that it had to be extravagant. Poor Lovino’s estate is being used like an inn. I have had more informants than ever coming in with news from Florence. Since Uncle Piero’s death we have slowly been starting to regain control of the city, one business at a time. Running a Florentine empire from Naples is not an easy task. The Bordanga of Naples have been most generous. Lovino took me in ten years ago when I was just a fifteen-year-old scrap of a boy and now he is letting me run all of our businesses from his personal estate in Naples.
Oh! I just remembered! Do you recall that lad that we knew as boys; he was a couple of years younger than us, Feliciano Vargas Bellini? We were thick as thieves as children. He was always following us around and getting into scrapes. We always had to go in and rescue him. Remember the time he got caught stealing bread from the Rossi’s kitchen. I thought Mama Bellini was going to kill him! But I digress. Well anyways, it turns out that he is a distant cousin of Lovino! I have reconnected with him and as it turns out he remembers us and has secretly remained loyal to the Medici all this time. He is now my most trusted confidant, save you of course. I have put him to work on the Leonardo fiasco. I hope da Vinci is less slippery than he was when I met him.
What! I have just gotten word that the Pazzi have captured one of my informants! Oh those Pazzi scum will pay! I must deal with this at once.
Farwell my dear Antonio; give my best to Caterina. I hope this finds you well.
Sincerely,
Lorenzo Giorgio de Medici
I hope this finds you well in Venice. I hear your banking house is thriving. Can you believe it has been ten years since the exile? I am still in charge of running affairs in Florence and oh you would not believe what Uncle Giovanni has me doing this time! Take pity on your poor cousin Lorenzo, for I will need a miracle to pull this one off.
I am sure that you have heard by now of the statue that trader Michelangelo made for the Pazzi. Pazzi! Pft! I spit on all their graves! Well, word of the statue got back to Uncle and he was irate. He instructed me to have something even more extravagant commissioned from the only artist who could ever hope to show up our Michelangelo: Leonardo da Vinci! Oh Cousin I just about died right there! Leonardo da Vinci! I mean I know the man is a genius, but do you have any idea how hard he is to pin down? He has a way of slithering out of every obligation he agrees to! Once, in Milan, I got him to agree to paint Nana Antonia for Papa Cosimo, but all I ever got was a sketch! Granted it was a wonderful sketch, Papa Cosimo even framed it; but a sketch is hardly a painting! Worse than that he and Michelangelo already hate each other!
Oh Cousin, what shall I do? Uncle Giovanni didn’t even tell me what he wanted commissioned! Just that it had to be extravagant. Poor Lovino’s estate is being used like an inn. I have had more informants than ever coming in with news from Florence. Since Uncle Piero’s death we have slowly been starting to regain control of the city, one business at a time. Running a Florentine empire from Naples is not an easy task. The Bordanga of Naples have been most generous. Lovino took me in ten years ago when I was just a fifteen-year-old scrap of a boy and now he is letting me run all of our businesses from his personal estate in Naples.
Oh! I just remembered! Do you recall that lad that we knew as boys; he was a couple of years younger than us, Feliciano Vargas Bellini? We were thick as thieves as children. He was always following us around and getting into scrapes. We always had to go in and rescue him. Remember the time he got caught stealing bread from the Rossi’s kitchen. I thought Mama Bellini was going to kill him! But I digress. Well anyways, it turns out that he is a distant cousin of Lovino! I have reconnected with him and as it turns out he remembers us and has secretly remained loyal to the Medici all this time. He is now my most trusted confidant, save you of course. I have put him to work on the Leonardo fiasco. I hope da Vinci is less slippery than he was when I met him.
What! I have just gotten word that the Pazzi have captured one of my informants! Oh those Pazzi scum will pay! I must deal with this at once.
Farwell my dear Antonio; give my best to Caterina. I hope this finds you well.
Sincerely,
Lorenzo Giorgio de Medici
Dear Feliciano,
I am sorry to report my friend, but I have a rather difficult task in store for you. In addition to keeping track of all the banking in the city and my agents in the city, I need you to commission a work of art from Leonardo da Vinci. I am aware of his tendency to slither out of commissions, but Uncle Cosimo insisted that it had to be Leonardo! He did have a fair point, for who before has ever had his command of the human form, or his genius? So I have devised a plan to ensure that this slippery genius completes his commission!
It has come to my attention that he and Michelangelo hate each other, so my idea is that we inform him that we are commissioning something to rival Michelangelo’s David. That should motivate him, but just in case, you are to accompany him while he is buying materials and pay for them. Upon the completion of the work he shall receive the rest of his pay. Brilliant isn’t it? You are also to check on his progress each day to make sure he is actually working. If he is not, you will just have to stay there with him while he works.
Also about banking, I need you to recruit more of their people to our side. Go to their houses, watch how the dynamics work, and then I need you to steal away their most ambitious young bankers. Only go for the young ones, do not waste your time with the old ones, they will be far more loyal to whichever house already employs them.
I have an agreement with a mercenary in the works that I will keep you posted on as well. It is just in the beginning stages so I do not have much to report yet.
Give my love to your mother. Oh how I have missed her ravioli bolognese. That woman can cook and she always had an extra place set at the table for me. Ah what a wonderful Mama.
I must be getting back to planning now. I wish you luck.
Sincerely,
Lorenzo
I am sorry to report my friend, but I have a rather difficult task in store for you. In addition to keeping track of all the banking in the city and my agents in the city, I need you to commission a work of art from Leonardo da Vinci. I am aware of his tendency to slither out of commissions, but Uncle Cosimo insisted that it had to be Leonardo! He did have a fair point, for who before has ever had his command of the human form, or his genius? So I have devised a plan to ensure that this slippery genius completes his commission!
It has come to my attention that he and Michelangelo hate each other, so my idea is that we inform him that we are commissioning something to rival Michelangelo’s David. That should motivate him, but just in case, you are to accompany him while he is buying materials and pay for them. Upon the completion of the work he shall receive the rest of his pay. Brilliant isn’t it? You are also to check on his progress each day to make sure he is actually working. If he is not, you will just have to stay there with him while he works.
Also about banking, I need you to recruit more of their people to our side. Go to their houses, watch how the dynamics work, and then I need you to steal away their most ambitious young bankers. Only go for the young ones, do not waste your time with the old ones, they will be far more loyal to whichever house already employs them.
I have an agreement with a mercenary in the works that I will keep you posted on as well. It is just in the beginning stages so I do not have much to report yet.
Give my love to your mother. Oh how I have missed her ravioli bolognese. That woman can cook and she always had an extra place set at the table for me. Ah what a wonderful Mama.
I must be getting back to planning now. I wish you luck.
Sincerely,
Lorenzo
Goodbye Lorenzo
We are gathered her today in mourning of my dear friend and cousin, Lorenzo Giorgio de Medici. He was a true Medici, taking over the running of Florence through his network of friends and their network of friends once we were exiled. He even tried to get da Vinci to sculpt the Birth of Venus for him. It didn’t workout but he did get a beautiful Venus from a little known artist in Florence. He was the funniest man I ever met. I remember a day when we were just boys and he was caught stealing figs in the market. The shop keep knew he was a Medici so instead of beating him he took back the fig and had a city guard inform his father of where he was and what he had done. When his father showed up he was furious. He said, “We are Medicis, we do not steal. Why would you take this man’s figs?” I remember clear as day Lorenzo explaining, “But Papa, I didn’t steal; I left a coin in the till while he wasn’t looking and took the number of figs I paid for!” His father couldn’t believe him, but being a fair man decided to check. I already knew it was true so I was just about dying with laughter in my hiding place under the adjacent shop table. Once he saw the coins and realized Lorenzo was telling the truth, he was mystified. “What is the reason for this!” he exclaimed, “Why would you pretend to steal?” Lorenzo answered him, quite sincerely, “I didn’t want to do anything wrong, but the figs taste better when you feel like your getting away with something.” No one knew what to say to that. That was just Lorenzo, a truly good man with a mischievous streak a mile wide. He was my best friend and I will miss him for the rest of my life.
We are gathered her today in mourning of my dear friend and cousin, Lorenzo Giorgio de Medici. He was a true Medici, taking over the running of Florence through his network of friends and their network of friends once we were exiled. He even tried to get da Vinci to sculpt the Birth of Venus for him. It didn’t workout but he did get a beautiful Venus from a little known artist in Florence. He was the funniest man I ever met. I remember a day when we were just boys and he was caught stealing figs in the market. The shop keep knew he was a Medici so instead of beating him he took back the fig and had a city guard inform his father of where he was and what he had done. When his father showed up he was furious. He said, “We are Medicis, we do not steal. Why would you take this man’s figs?” I remember clear as day Lorenzo explaining, “But Papa, I didn’t steal; I left a coin in the till while he wasn’t looking and took the number of figs I paid for!” His father couldn’t believe him, but being a fair man decided to check. I already knew it was true so I was just about dying with laughter in my hiding place under the adjacent shop table. Once he saw the coins and realized Lorenzo was telling the truth, he was mystified. “What is the reason for this!” he exclaimed, “Why would you pretend to steal?” Lorenzo answered him, quite sincerely, “I didn’t want to do anything wrong, but the figs taste better when you feel like your getting away with something.” No one knew what to say to that. That was just Lorenzo, a truly good man with a mischievous streak a mile wide. He was my best friend and I will miss him for the rest of my life.