Medici (TV series)

Medici
Title card from the first season
Also known as	Medici: Masters of Florence (season 1) Medici: The Magnificent (seasons 2–3)
Genre	Historical drama, Political thriller
Created by	Frank Spotnitz Nicholas Meyer
Starring	Season 1 Richard Madden Stuart Martin Annabel Scholey Guido Caprino Alessandro Sperduti Valentina Bellè Alessandro Preziosi Eugenio Franceschini Sarah Felberbaum Miriam Leone Valentina Cervi Brian Cox Dustin Hoffman Seasons 2–3 Daniel Sharman Bradley James Sarah Parish Alessandra Mastronardi Matteo Martari Aurora Ruffino Matilda Lutz Filippo Nigro Annabel Scholey Sean Bean Raoul Bova Francesco Montanari Johnny Harris Sebastian de Souza Callum Blake Jack Roth Toby Regbo Synnøve Karlsen
Opening theme	"Renaissance" by Paolo Buonvino & Skin (s. 1)[1] "Revolution Bones" by Paolo Buonvino & Skin (s. 2–3)
Composers	Paolo Buonvino Ian Arber (s. 2–3)
Country of origin	Italy United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	24 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Frank Spotnitz Luca Bernabei Matilde Bernabei Richard Madden (seasons 2–3)
Producer	Fania Petrocchi
Running time	52 minutes
Production companies	Big Light Productions Rai Fiction
Release
Original network	Rai 1 (Italy)
Picture format	4K (Ultra HD)
First shown in	Italy
Original release	18 October 2016 (2016-10-18) – 11 December 2019 (2019-12-11)
External links
Website

Medici (Italian: I Medici) is a historical drama created by Frank Spotnitz and Nicholas Meyer. The series was produced by Italian companies Lux Vide and Rai Fiction, in collaboration with Frank Spotnitz's Big Light Productions.^[2]

The series premiered in Italy on Rai 1 on 18 October 2016.^[3] The series follows the Medici family, bankers of the Pope, during Renaissance Florence. Each season follows the events of a particular moment of the family history exploring the political and artistic landscape of Renaissance Italy.

The first season, titled Medici: Masters of Florence, takes place in 1429, the year Giovanni de' Medici, head of the family, died. His son Cosimo de' Medici succeeds him as head of the family bank, the richest bank of Europe at that time, and fights to preserve his power in Florence. The second season, titled Medici: The Magnificent, takes place 35 years later and tells the story of Cosimo's grandson Lorenzo de' Medici (known as the Magnificent). A third, which completes the story of Lorenzo, premiered on Rai 1 in Italy on 2 December 2019.

The series reached between four and eight million viewers on original airings. According to Italian ratings compiler Auditel, the broadcast of the first episode attracted a record 8.04 million viewers.^[4]

The series is broadcast in 190 countries worldwide, including on Netflix in the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland and India,^[5] and on SBS in Australia.^[6]

Plot[]

Season 1[]

Florence, 1429. Giovanni de' Medici is a rich banker who also represents one of the most important political forces of Florence's Signoria. He has a plan to increase his family power by making an agreement with the Church of Rome. The election of a new Pope is about to take place and Giovanni sends his sons Cosimo and Lorenzo to Rome in order to encourage the election of a Pope close to his family. In Rome, Cosimo, fascinated by the beauty of ancient architectures and art, meets Donatello and one of his models Bianca. Cosimo falls in love with her but is then forced to leave her and marry Contessina de Bardi, a political marriage arranged by Giovanni and Contessina's father. The Medici's candidate gets elected, which ensures to the bank of the Medici an unparalleled economic power. Twenty years later, Giovanni is mysteriously murdered and Cosimo and Lorenzo try to secretly investigate his death. Meanwhile, the political situation in the city is troubled by plots against the Medici family's power, and their vision for the future of Florence - which will then lead to the Renaissance - is in danger. Cosimo's dream is to complete the Duomo of Florence, but no architect seems to have a feasible solution due to the shape of the base created for the dome. Finally, Filippo Brunelleschi introduces himself to Cosimo and shows him plans for the dome. Cosimo decides to trust Brunelleschi and the construction of the dome starts, bringing jobs and people to Florence. Meanwhile, the mystery surrounding the death of Giovanni thickens and Rinaldo Albizzi, Cosimo's main opponent in the Signoria, tries to block the construction and to incite the people to rise up against the Medicis.

Season 2[]

Twenty years have passed since the events of the first season. Piero, Cosimo's son, and his wife Lucrezia are now at the head of the family. The power of the Medici has consolidated over time, but an assassination attempt on Piero brings to light his mismanagement of the family bank. The Sforza family have the greatest debt towards the bank and manage to make an agreement with Piero to erase their debts. The solution proposed by Sforza would also bring about the invasion of Florence. Lorenzo, Piero's son, in order to avoid the fall of Florence, takes over the role of his father both in the government of the Signoria and as head of the family, avoiding the invasion. Although he has a relationship with a married woman, Lucrezia Donati, Lorenzo accepts marriage with a Roman religious noblewoman, Clarice Orsini (who initially wanted to be a nun but has to give up her dream for the marriage) . Their marriage goes through a turbulent time as their interests differ but he soon falls in love with her and they start living happily. His brother Giuliano and his dear friend Sandro Botticelli, both meet and fall in love with Simonetta, although in different ways. Botticelli's interest is an artistic one and leads to the painting of Venus and Mars in which Simonetta is represented alongside Giuliano. The Pazzi family, led by Jacopo Pazzi and his nephew Francesco, join forces with the Pope in order to increase the Church's control of nearby territories and mines, in opposition to the Medici's policy. This argument will eventually lead to a conspiracy against Lorenzo in an attempt to put an end to his power and his dream of a peaceful and culturally alive Florence.

Season 3[]

This season starts immediately after the previous one. Lorenzo has grown into a cruel determined man after his brother's death and vows revenge. He soon has three children with Clarice and a miscarried child as well that leads to Clarice's death , and they raise Giulio (Giuliano's illegitimate son) after his father's death. Following the breakdown of the Pazzi conspiracy, Lorenzo must still face a military coalition from the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples, led by the ambitious Girolamo Riario. He undertakes a diplomatic journey to Naples and succeeds in negotiating a separate peace. Season 3 focuses on how Lorenzo would do anything, to any extent for his family and his legacy.

Episodes[]

Series		English subtitle	Italian subtitle	Episodes		Originally aired
						First aired	Last aired
	1	Masters of Florence	—	8		18 October 2016 (2016-10-18)	8 November 2016 (2016-11-08)
	2	The Magnificent, Part 1	Lorenzo il Magnifico	8		23 October 2018 (2018-10-23)	13 November 2018 (2018-11-13)
	3	The Magnificent, Part 2	Nel nome della famiglia	8		2 December 2019 (2019-12-02)	11 December 2019 (2019-12-11)

Cast[]

Season 1: Masters of Florence[]

Seasons 2–3: The Magnificent[]

Appearances[]

Actor	Character	Seasons
		Season 1	Season 2	Season 3
Main cast
Richard Madden	Cosimo de' Medici	Main
Stuart Martin	Lorenzo de' Medici (The Elder)	Main
Annabel Scholey	Contessina de' Bardi	Main
Guido Caprino	Marco Bello	Main	Guest
Alessandro Sperduti	Piero de' Medici	Main
Julian Sands			Main
Ken Bones	Ugo Bencini	Main
Lex Shrapnel	Rinaldo degli Albizzi	Main
Daniel Caltagirone	Andrea Pazzi	Main
Valentina Bellè (dub. : Aisling Franciosi)	Lucrezia Tournabuoni	Main
Sarah Parish			Main
Alessandro Preziosi (dub. : Jeremy Nicholas)	Filippo Brunelleschi	Main
Eugenio Franceschini (dub. : Alex Wells-King)	Ormanno Albizzi	Main
Sarah Felberbaum	Maddalena	Main
Miriam Leone	Bianca	Main
Michael Schermi (dub. : Callum Cameron)	Ricciardo	Main
Tatjana Inez Nardone	Emilia	Main
Valentina Cervi	Alessandra Albizzi	Main
Brian Cox	Bernardo Guadagni	Main
Dustin Hoffman	Giovanni de' Medici	Main
Daniel Sharman	Lorenzo de' Medici "The Magnificent"[a]		Main
Bradley James	Giuliano de' Medici		Main	Recurring
Alessandra Mastronardi	Lucrezia Donati		Main
Matteo Martari (dub. : Jack Hickey)	Francesco de' Pazzi[b]		Main
Synnøve Karlsen	Clarice Orsini		Main
Aurora Ruffino (dub. : Peta Cornish)	Bianca de' Medici		Main	Recurring
Matilda Lutz	Simonetta Vespucci		Main
Filippo Nigro	Luca Soderini		Main
Sean Bean	Jacopo de' Pazzi		Main
Raoul Bova	Pope Sixtus IV		Main
John Lynch				Recurring
Francesco Montanari (dub. : Peter Gaynor)	Girolamo Savonarola			Main
Johnny Harris	Bruno Bernardi			Main
Sebastian de Souza	Sandro Botticelli		Recurring	Main
Callum Blake	Carlo de' Medici		Recurring	Main
Jack Roth	Girolamo Riario			Main
Marius Bizau			Recurring
Toby Regbo	Tommaso Peruzzi			Main
Recurring cast
Fortunato Cerlino	Mastro Bredani	Recurring[c]
Frances Barber	Piccarda Bueri	Recurring[c]
Alberto Sette	Lupo Corona	Recurring
Brando Leon Rustici	Vieri	Recurring
Giorgio Caputo (dub. : Jack Boylan)	Federigo Malavolti	Recurring[c]
David Bamber	Pope Eugene IV	Recurring[c]
Charlie Vickers	Guglielmo de' Pazzi		Recurring
Jacopo Olmo Antinori	Bastiano Soderini		Recurring
Beniamino Brogi	Nori		Recurring
Pietro Ragusa (dub. : Simon Paisley Day)	Nicolò Ardinghelli		Recurring
David Brandon	Cesare Petrucci		Recurring
Jack Bannon	Angelo Poliziano		Recurring	Guest
Tam Mutu	Galeazzo Maria Sforza		Recurring
Alan Cappelli Goetz (dub. : )	Roberto Cavalcanti		Recurring
Michele Balducci (dub. : Jack Boylan)	Guido Cavalcanti		Recurring
Miriam Dalmazio (dub. : Remie Purtill Clarke)	Bona of Savoy		Recurring
Jacob Fortune-Lloyd	Francesco Salviati		Recurring
Alessio Vassallo (dub. : Gavin Drea)	Marco Vespucci		Recurring
Bruce McGuire	Latino Orsini		Recurring	Guest
Brando Pacitto (dub. : Liam Heslin)	Antonio Maffei		Recurring
Maurizio Lombardi (dub. : Simon Paisley Day)	Andrea Foscari		Recurring
Nicole Brugnoli	Caterina Sforza		Guest
Rose Williams				Recurring
Giorgio Marchesi (dub. : Dermot Magennis)	Giacomo Spinelli			Recurring
Marco Foschi (dub. : Frank Blake)	Alfonso II of Naples			Recurring
Raniero Monaco di Lapio	Vanni			Recurring
David Brooks	Ricci			Recurring
Stephen Hagan	Leonardo da Vinci			Recurring
Gualtiero Burzi	Quintino			Recurring
Vincenzo Crea	Niccolò Machiavelli			Recurring
Daniele Pecci	Ludovico Sforza			Recurring
Jacob Dudman	Giulio de' Medici			Recurring
William Oliver Franklyn-Miller	Giovanni de' Medici			Recurring
Louis Partridge	Piero de' Medici			Recurring
Grace O'Leary	Maddalena de' Medici			Recurring
Neri Marcorè	Pope Innocent VIII			Recurring
Guest cast (selected)
Steven Waddington	Antipope John XXIII	Guest[c]
Ben Starr	Donatello	Guest[c]
Andrea Bruschi	Andreas di Cecco	Guest[c]
Andrea Tidona (dub. : Jeremy Nicholas)	Pope Martin V	Guest[c]
David Bradley	Alessandro de' Bardi	Guest[c]
Anthony Howell	Francesco Sforza	Guest[c]
Valentina Carnelutti	Maria Tarugi	Guest[c]
Andy Luotto	Sandro Tarugi	Guest[c]
Andrea Bosca	Sanuto	Guest[c]
James Murray	Francesco Foscari	Guest[c]
David Sturzaker	Ezio Contarini	Guest[c]
Roberto Accornero (dub. : Peter Gaynor)	Massimo Contarini	Guest[c]
Luigi Diberti	Messer Calvacanti	Guest[c]
Paudge Behan	Giuliano Della Rovere		Guest
Max Cruciani	Gian Galeazzo Sforza		Guest
Francesco Gheghi				Guest
Francesco di Raimondo	Raffaele Riario		Guest
Loris De Luna (dub. : Jamie O'Neill)				Guest
Ray Stevenson	Ferdinand I of Naples			Guest
Gaia Weiss	Ippolita Maria Sforza			Guest
Emmett J. Scanlan	Guido Battista			Guest
Ettore Bernabei	Michelangelo Buonarroti			Guest

Production[]

Sergio Mimica-Gezzan directed all eight episodes in the first season.^[2] The show's world premiere took place in Florence at Palazzo Vecchio on the 14 October 2016, ahead of its premiere airing on RAI 1 on October 18.

Filming for the second season started in Rome on 24 August 2017.^[8]

On 28 August 2018 filming for the third season started in Formello, outside Rome.^[9]

Historical accuracy[]

During an interview at the panel in 2015, Spotnitz stated, "the season will be more thriller than historical saga... we begin the show with a 'what if' because we don't know how Giovanni de' Medici died. One of the questions that haunts Cosimo, is whether his father was murdered".^[10]

Locations[]

Several noticeable locations are used throughout the series, in addition to sets and sound stages:

• Bracciano Castle: The principal courtyards and staircases of the Orsini-Odescalchi castle in Bracciano serve as streets in Florence, a palace in Rome, and the ancestral home of Contessina de' Bardi. The central courtyard in the Castle features a particularly recognisable staircase with the sculpture of a bear; this staircase becomes the principal entrance of the Medici home in Florence with the addition of the Medici Coat of Arms.^[11]
• The Villa Farnese in Caprarola and its gardens: The frescoed and ring-vaulted internal terrace-courtyard of Villa Caprarola doubles as a Medici villa in the series, while an un-frescoed terrace is used as a Vatican property in Rome. The Caprarola secret gardens with their unique fountains are used to represent the Vatican Gardens.^[12]

The creators took significant liberties with sets, often showing interior decorations, works of art, and exterior landscapes that were created many years after the events described in the series which occur in the mid-1430s. For example, the Medici Palazzo was built in 1440s–1480s and the Benozzo Gozzoli frescoes of Magi Chapel shown in the Cosimo study were executed in 1459–61. The Lorenzo rooms are decorated with the Giulio Romano fresco "Mars and Venus" which was painted in the 1520s in Palazzo Te in Mantova. During the episode exile in Venice, the church of Santa Maria della Salute built in the 1630s is repeatedly shown as part of the Venice city landscape. Villa Medici contains "Fortitude and Temperance with Six Antique Heroes" by Perugino, painted in 1497.

• Castle of Santa Severa is Cardinal Baldassarre Cossa's Palace.^[13]
• The medieval oldtown of Viterbo and its Palazzo dei Papi are the set for late medieval Rome.
• Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli is another set for Rome; Cosimo meets Donatello along the Canopus.
• Borgo di Rota, a frazione of Tolfa, is the set for Francesco Sforza's army camp and the village where Lorenzo meets mercenary Ferzetti (played by Alessandro Cremona).^[14]
• Pienza: used as the Palazzo Medici, the streets of Florence, and the background for Cosimo's wedding.
• Montepulciano: Several scenes are filmed outside the Duomo using the unfinished façade of the cathedral as a backdrop. These scenes often incorrectly show the Duomo of Florence rising in the background to the north. The Communal Palace, also in Piazza Grande, is part of several scenes, as is the Church of San Biagio.

Technical details[]

Medici: Masters of Florence was originated in 4k video and broadcast in this format on the free Italian satellite service Tivu whilst on the Italian Digital Terrestrial service DVB-T2 it was broadcast in Full-HD 1920×1080.

Two audio tracks were broadcast: Rai TV gave satellite and terrestrial viewers the option to watch the series in Italian or English.^[15]

International transmission[]

Netflix carries out the show in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland and India since December 2016.^[5]

The series is broadcast in 190 countries worldwide, including on SBS in Australia,^[6] on Fox Premium in Argentina, SFR's premium SVOD service Zive in France, Sky 1 in Germany,^[16] on RTP1 in Portugal, and on RTS2 in Serbia. It was also sold in Japan, Israel, and New Zealand.^[17]

Home media[]

Season		DVD releases
		Italy	United Kingdom
	Medici: Masters of Florence	March 22, 2017 (2017-03-22)	December 11, 2017 (2017-12-11)
	Medici: The Magnificent	January 24, 2019 (2019-01-24)	-
	I Medici: Nel nome della famiglia	January 15, 2020	-

The second season was also released in Blu-Ray (Region B) on the 24 January 2019. Both Italian editions have the original audio track in English and the Italian-dubbed audio track.

Other media[]

On the 16 October 2018, a novelisation of the events told in the second season titled I Medici - Lorenzo il Magnifico was published in Italy by Michele Gazo.

Soundtrack[]

The soundtrack for the series was composed by Paolo Buonvino.^[18] The opening theme song Renaissance was produced with the collaboration of Skin. A video clip for the song was also published the day before the series premiered in Italy.^[19]

The opening theme song for the second season changed. Skin and Buonvino collaborated on a variation of the original opening sequence song titled Revolution Bones. Ian Arber composed additional music for the second season.

On December 20, 2019 the full soundtrack I Medici (Music from the Original TV Series) was released by Sugar Music with a total of 47 tracks composed by Paolo Buonvino.^[20]

Track listing[]

Disc 1

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Lies"	2:01
2.	"Dulcis amor"	1:24
3.	"The Engagement"	2:10
4.	"The Bank"	5:31
5.	"Vision"	3:31
6.	"The Conclave Procession"	0:48
7.	"Lorenzo The Magnificent"	2:27
8.	"War"	4:15
9.	"Dulcis amor, Pt. 2"	2:33
10.	"Vidi aliam bestiam"	3:22
11.	"Pleni sunt"	3:42
12.	"Return to Florence"	1:24
13.	"The Play"	0:55
14.	"Gloria patris"	1:57
15.	"Conium maculatum"	5:12
16.	"Poison"	3:10
17.	"The Battle"	1:26
18.	"Ascent"	5:04
19.	"Love for Duty"	3:20
20.	"Sanctus Kyrie"	2:05
21.	"Plots"	6:59
22.	"The Contract"	1:45
23.	"Lorenzo's Kyrie"	1:37
24.	"Swords"	1:37
25.	"Prison"	3:18
26.	"Albizzi"	3:28
27.	"Firenze"	2:24
28.	"Contessina"	2:11
29.	"The Castle"	2:28
30.	"Bianca"	1:33
31.	"Cosimo's Thoughts"	2:28
32.	"A Moment of Joy"	0:43
33.	"The Dome and the Plague"	1:49
34.	"Cosimo and Contessina"	2:28
35.	"The Truth"	5:05

Disc 2

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Revolution Bones (Paolo Buonvino & Skin)"	1:18
2.	"Attack on the Carriage"	3:02
3.	"La giostra"	3:50
4.	"Pazzi"	2:39
5.	"Gratia et misericordia"	4:58
6.	"La congiura dei Pazzi"	5:31
7.	"Vision of the Future"	2:48

Disc 3

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Deception"	4:52
2.	"Decadence"	3:15
3.	"Afterthought"	2:22
4.	"Alma mia"	3:25
5.	"Renaissance (Paolo Buonvino & Skin)"	5:25
Total length:		2:19:00

Reception[]

Awards[]

Year	Association	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
2016	Capri TV series Award	TV series	Medici: Masters of Florence	Won
2018	La Chioma di Berenice	Best Makeup in Fiction[21]	Giancarlo Del Brocco (for Medici: Masters of Florence)	Won
		Best Production Design in Fiction[21]	Francesco Frigeri (for Medici: Masters of Florence)	Won
		Best Costumes in Fiction[22]	Alessandro Lai (for Medici: Masters of Florence)	Nominated
		Best Soundtrack[22]	Paolo Buonvino (for Medici: Masters of Florence)	Nominated
		Best Hairstyling[22]	Francesco Pegoretti (for Medici: Masters of Florence)	Nominated
2019	MUSIC+SOUND Awards	Best Original Composition in Television Programme Titles[23]	Medici: The Magnificent	Nominated

References[]

External links[]

• Medici at IMDb
• Wagner, Curt (17 November 2015). "Richard Madden, Italy & the 'Medici'". Show Patrol. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
• Trailer on YouTube (English with French Subtitles). Posted 8 October 2016.
• Medici: Masters of Florence Dedicated Website
• Nurbel, Jean-Christophe (28 March 2017). "Review Medici : Master of Florence". Bulles de Culture. Retrieved 4 March 2021.