Medici (TV series)

Medici
Genre	Historical fiction
Created by	Frank Spotnitz Nicholas Meyer
Starring	Richard Madden Stuart Martin Annabel Scholey Guido Caprino Alessandro Sperduti Ken Bones Lex Shrapnel Daniel Caltagirone Valentina Bellè Alessandro Preziosi Eugenio Franceschini Sarah Felberbaum Miriam Leone Michael Schermi Tatjana Nardone Valentina Cervi Brian Cox Dustin Hoffman Sean Bean Daniel Sharman Bradley James Julian Sands Sebastian de Souza Raul Bova Sarah Parish Alessandra Mastronardi
Opening theme	Renaissance (From "Medici: Masters of Florence") by Paolo Buonvino & Skin (musician)
Composer	Paolo Buonvino
Country of origin	Italy United Kingdom
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producers	Frank Spotnitz Luca Bernabei Matilde Bernabei
Producer	Fania Petrocchi
Running time	52 minutes
Production companies	Lux Vide Big Light Productions Rai Fiction
Original release
Network	Rai 1 (Italy)
Release	18 October 2016 (2016-10-18) – present

Medici: Masters of Florence is an Italian-British television drama series about the Medici dynasty set in 15th-century Florence, starring Dustin Hoffman as Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, Richard Madden as Cosimo de' Medici, and Stuart Martin as Lorenzo de' Medici (The Elder). The series was co-created by Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files and Man in the High Castle) and Nicholas Meyer (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (The Pillars of the Earth) directed all eight episodes. Episodes 1 and 2 aired on Rai 1 (Italian TV) on 18 October 2016. According to Italian ratings compiler Auditel, it attracted a record 7.6 million viewers. The first season consists of eight episodes.

The show has been renewed for a second season, with Sean Bean appearing as Jacopo de' Pazzi. It is broadcast in several countries around the world, on SFR's premium SVOD service Zive in France and Sky 1 in Germany. Netflix carries the show in the US, Canada, Argentina on Fox Premium, the UK, Ireland and India. In Australia, the series was broadcast by SBS. In Portugal, the series was broadcast by RTP1.

Plot

The series is set in the 15th-century Florence, and the protagonist is Cosimo the Elder who was elected head of the Florentine Republic in 1434. Cosimo has inherited the Bank of Medici from his father Giovanni, who has been mysteriously poisoned. Through various flashbacks (20 years prior), we are introduced to Florence at the time of Giovanni, and to his relationship with his sons Cosimo and Lorenzo.

Cast

Main

Character	Appearances
	Season 1	Season 2
Piero de' Medici	Alessandro Sperduti	Julian Sands
Lucrezia de' Medici	Valentina Bellè	Sarah Parish
Cosimo de' Medici	Richard Madden
Lorenzo de' Medici (The Elder)	Stuart Martin
Contessina de' Medici	Annabel Scholey
Giovanni de' Medici	Dustin Hoffman
Marco Bello	Guido Caprino
Ugo Bencini	Ken Bones
Rinaldo degli Albizzi	Lex Shrapnel
Andrea Pazzi	Daniel Caltagirone
Filippo Brunelleschi	Alessandro Preziosi
Ormanno Albizzi	Eugenio Franceschini
Maddalena	Sarah Felberbaum
Bianca	Miriam Leone
Ricciardo	Michael Schermi
Emilia	Tatjana Inez Nardone
Alessandra Albizzi	Valentina Cervi
Bernardo Guadagni	Brian Cox
Jacopo de' Pazzi		Sean Bean
Lorenzo de' Medici (The Magnificent)		Daniel Sharman
Giuliano de' Medici		Bradley James
Sandro Botticelli		Sebastian de Souza
Pope Sixtus IV		Raul Bova
Lucrezia Donati		Alessandra Mastronardi
Alessandro de' Bardi	David Bradley
Piccarda de' Medici	Frances Barber
Messer Calvacanti	Luigi Diberti
Donatello	Ben Starr
Pope Eugene IV	David Bamber
Antipope John XXIII (Cardinal Cossa)	Steven Waddington
Corona	Alberto Sette

Season 1

• Richard Madden as Cosimo de' Medici: Head of the Medici family after his father's death
• Stuart Martin as Lorenzo de' Medici: Cosimo's brother
• Annabel Scholey as Contessina de' Bardi: Cosimo's wife
• Guido Caprino as Marco Bello: Cosimo's loyal friend and ally
• Alessandro Sperduti as Piero de' Medici: Cosimo's son
• Ken Bones as Ugo Bencini: Administrator of the Medici Bank
• Lex Shrapnel as Rinaldo degli Albizzi: Cosimo's enemy
• Daniel Caltagirone as Andrea Pazzi: A powerful member of the Signoria
• Valentina Bellè (dub. : Aisling Franciosi) as Lucrezia Tornabuoni: Piero's wife
• Alessandro Preziosi as Filippo Brunelleschi
• Eugenio Franceschini (dub. : ALex Wells-King) as Ormanno Albizzi: Rinaldo and Alessandra's son
• Sarah Felberbaum as Maddalena: Cosimo's lover in Venice and Florence
• Miriam Leone as Bianca: Cosimo's lover in Rome
• Michael Schermi (dub. : Callum Cameron) as Ricciardo: A common man of Florence, loyal to Cosimo
• Tatjana Inez Nardone as Emilia: Contessina's maid
• Valentina Cervi as Alessandra Albizzi: Rinaldo's wife
• Brian Cox as Bernardo Guadagni: Officer of the Signoria
• Dustin Hoffman as Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici: Cosimo and Lorenzo's father

Season 2

• Sean Bean as Jacopo de' Pazzi
• Daniel Sharman as Lorenzo the Magnificent
• Bradley James as Giuliano de' Medici
• Julian Sands as Piero de' Medici (older)
• Sebastian de Souza as Sandro Botticelli
• Raul Bova as Pope Sixtus IV
• Sarah Parish as Lucrezia Tornabuoni (older)
• Alessandra Mastronardi as Lucrezia Donati

Guest

• David Bradley as Alessandro de' Bardi: Contessina's father
• Frances Barber as Piccarda Bueri: Cosimo and Lorenzo's mother
• Luigi Diberti as Messer Cavalcanti
• Ben Starr as Donatello
• David Bamber as Pope Eugene IV
• Steven Waddington as Cossa
• Alberto Sette as Corona

Production

Historical accuracy

During an interview at the Roma Fest 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".

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.
• 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.

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.
• 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.
• 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 1920x1080.

Two soundtracks were transmitted: Rai TV gave satellite and terrestrial decoder viewers the option to watch it in Italian or English.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Italy viewers (millions)
1	"Original Sin"	Sergio Mimica-Gezzan	Frank Spotnitz, Nicholas Meyer	18 October 2016 (2016-10-18)	8.04
When Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici is poisoned his son Cosimo takes over the family bank and asks Marco Bello to investigate the murder. Cosimo is elected to his father's seat on the Signoria where Rinaldo degli Albizzi, the family's rival, is pushing for war with Milan because they attacked Lucca. Twenty years earlier, Giovanni sent Cosimo and his elder brother Lorenzo to Rome with bribes to install a friendly cardinal as Pope and gain control of the Vatican's banking. Cosimo, who wants to be an artist, meets Donatello and falls in love with his beautiful model Bianca, but Giovanni finds out and has the studio shut down driving Bianca away.
2	"The Dome and the Domicile"	Sergio Mimica-Gezzan	Frank Spotnitz	18 October 2016 (2016-10-18)	7.14
The war with Milan is going badly and Florence's economy is in ruins. Cosimo funds Filippo Brunelleschi to build a dome for the cathedral creating work and brokers a deal between Lucca and the Duke of Milan for peace. Twenty years earlier, Giovanni forces Cosimo to marry Contessina, the strong-willed daughter of a noble banker with financial problems, forcing Cosimo to give up his dreams of being an artist.
3	"Pestilence"	Sergio Mimica-Gezzan	Sophie Petzal	25 October 2016 (2016-10-25)	6.73
Florence is hit by the Black Plague and Cosimo moves the family to the safety of their estate outside the city. Albizzi turns the people against Cosimo and his dome blaming the plague on God's wrath at the Medici's usury. Cosimo returns to Florence and turns the cathedral into a hospice for plague victims to save the dome. Lorenzo overrules Contessina and sells the family's wool business making their financial problems public. Albizzi has Cosimo arrested after Marco breaks into a house to gather evidence on Giovanni's murder. Twenty years earlier, Cosimo and Contessina struggle to trust each other and make their marriage work.
4	"Judgment Day"	Sergio Mimica-Gezzan	Alex von Tunzelmann	25 October 2016 (2016-10-25)	6.32
Albizzi accuses Cosimo of usury and trying to overthrow the republic. Piero and Contessina try to mount a defense but Cosimo is sentenced to death. Lorenzo buys the Sforza army and threatens to invade Florence. Contessina storms the Signoria on horseback and persuades them to exile Cosimo to prevent war. Twenty years earlier, Cosimo's friend Albizzi tells him that his family lost a valuable ship at sea and Giovanni uses the information to have Albizzi's father declared bankrupt and thrown off the Signoria.
5	"Temptation"	Sergio Mimica-Gezzan	Francesca Gardiner	1 November 2016 (2016-11-01)	6.50
Albizzi hires mercenaries and exiles the Medici's allies to gain control of Florence. Contessina turns down an offer to flee Florence with her old lover, who she was forced to abandon when she was betrothed to Cosimo. In Venice, Cosimo lobbies The Doge to back his return to Florence, and with information supplied by Contessina thwarts Albizzi's attempt to make an alliance through marriage. The Doge gives Cosimo a beautiful slave named Maddelena whom he teaches to draw and then falls for. Albizzi tries to seize the Signoria but he is betrayed by Pazzi and arrested.
6	"Ascendancy"	Sergio Mimica-Gezzan	Mark Denton, Jonny Stockwood	1 November 2016 (2016-11-01)	6.02
Cosimo is welcomed back to Florence and pays off the mercenaries who are terrorising the town because they haven't been paid. Cosimo finally makes up with Contessina and ends his relationship with Maddelena. The Pope seeks sanctuary with the Medici when Rome is attacked. At the Pope's urging, Cosimo persuades the Signoria to show mercy and exile Albizzi instead of executing him. While the Pope blesses Cosimo's cathedral, Albizzi and his son are murdered in the woods by the mercenaries.
7	"Purgatory"	Sergio Mimica-Gezzan	Emilia di Girolamo	8 November 2016 (2016-11-08)	6.42
Cosimo has a local olive merchant elected to the Signoria to fill Albizzi's vacant seat, but the merchant is murdered and Pazzi is elected while Cosimo is absent. After Marco reveals that the apothecary was killed with Lorenzo's dagger, Cosimo has Lorenzo locked in his room. Marco sleeps with Maddelena causing tension with Cosimo. Lorenzo claims Marco framed him to cover up his own involvement in Giovanni's murder, which Marco denies and Cosimo allows him to leave. Ugo reveals that Rosa was carrying Lorenzo's child and Giovanni had her shipped off to a home for unmarried mothers, but they were both killed.
8	"Epiphany"	Sergio Mimica-Gezzan	John Fay	8 November 2016 (2016-11-08)	6.26
Rumours of Cosimo's hand in Albizzi's murder result in the Pope transferring the church's banking to Pazzi. Cosimo heads to Rome with money to pay for an army to retake Rome for the Pope. Marco helps Lorenzo to capture Pazzi's assassin and obtain a letter that proves Pazzi's complicity. Pazzi's men kill Lorenzo and free the assassin but Cosimo gives the letter to the Pope and the Medici retain the church's banking. Maddelena is pregnant with Cosimo's child and Contessina decides that Cosimo will acknowledge and raise the bastard. Ugo murdered Giovanni because he ordered him to take Rosa to her death.

Reception

Awards

• Winner of the 2016 Capri TV Series Award.

External links

• Medici at IMDb
• Richard Madden, Italy & the 'Medici'. Show Patrol. 17 November 2015.
• Trailer on YouTube (English with French Subtitles). Posted 8 October 2016.
• Medici: Masters of Florence Dedicated Website
• Review Medici : Master of Florence on Bulles de Culture