tuscany

In the late 17th century, Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici (only daughter of the penultimate Medici Grand Duke, Cosimo III), married Elector Johann Wilhelm of the Palatinate as his second wife. The marriage was considered a happy one (the Electoral couple had a close relationship and shared love for...

Alessandro de Medici, known as "the Moor" because his dark complexion, was the first member of his family to control Florence as a hereditary ruler, with the title of duke. However, he was assassinated by a cousin, Lorenzaccio, after being in power for just four years and a few months, and was...

The Republic of Florence was a very important state in late medieval and Renaissance politics. Florence is commonly considered the birthplace and centre of the Renaissance, and was the hometown of such eminent figures as Dante, Giovanni Boccaccio, Leonardo da Vinci, and Niccolo Macchiavelli. The...

The Thornton Expedition was the only time an Italian nation (Excluding Malta) try to colonize the New World. In 1608, Robert Thornton, under the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I, was sent to prepare the establishment of Tuscan Colony in modern-day modern day French Guiana. However, when...

Hi everyone! I have seen some threads popping up recently, regarding alternate Italian unification, or non-unification scenarios. Since this is the topic that interests me the most, I thought it was worth it to try and make a comprehensive discussion thread on the topic. Should you choose to...

So this is kind of a spin-off on the Alternative West Indies thread , but focusing more specifically on the Italian Kingdoms/Republics and City-States as potential colonisers in a context where maybe both Spain and Portugal may be nerfed or at least less ambitious in terms of trad ventures...

First Italian War of Independence was a Austrian victory led by Joseph Radetzky with his army marching directly moving into the Kingdom of Sardinia. The peace signed by Sardinia and Austria seemed to be lenient with Sardinia losing no land and only having to pay indemnity. What if the Austrians...

In 1608 Captain Robert Thornton was sent by Ferdinand I de' Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany to explore Northern Brazil, the Amazon and nowadays' French Guyana. The ambitious Grand Duke wanted Thornton to explore in particular Guyana in order to find supplies of rosewood, balsam and cotton that the...

At the end of the Middle Age, Genoa, Firenze and Venice were powerful city states that had a vast economic and cultural influence over the rest of Europe, Venice controlled a large part of the trade in the Mediterrannean, so did Genoa, along with strong financial ties with Spain in its early...

The decline of the Tuscan state has been ascribed to the disastrous double Tutrici regency of Dowager Grand Duchesses Christine (of Lorraine) and Maria Magdalene (of Austria) following the death of Cosimo II. They brought in a lot more priests, turned Galileo over to the Inquisition and became...

Hope everyone had a good Christmas I've become interested in the Hohenstaufen dynasty of late. And perusing through their family trees, I couldn't help but noticing that Friedrich II gave his bastards some lucrative posts - Enzo, king of Sardinia; Federico d'Antiocha, margrave/vicar general of...

Of late I’ve been looking at the last generation of Medicis to rule Tuscany, the three children of Cosimo III and his estranged French wife. All three had marriages where one of the partners had syphilis. None left children. Now, of the three matches – two (that of Giovan’ Gastone and his...