What do you think?
Rate this book
The Last Medici
Recounts the decline of the Medici family against a corresponding description and history of Florence during that period
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
About the author
Harold Acton
54 books14 followersSir Harold Mario Mitchell Acton was a British writer, scholar and dilettante who is probably most famous for being believed, incorrectly, to have inspired the character of "Anthony Blanche" in Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited (1945).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 3, 2025
Harold Acton Chronicles The Magnificent, Melancholy Decline Of Grand Ducal Tuscany During The Reign Of The Medici.
Harold Acton was an English historian and aesthete who lived from 1904-1994 and was the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, but his four most significant historical studies were The Pazzi Conspiracy: The Plot Against the Medici, The Bourbons of Naples, 1734-1825, The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861 and this title, The Last Medici, the only English monograph dedicated to the final years of Grand Ducal Tuscany under Medici rule. Acton was born in Florence, Italy, but he was enrolled by his parents into Wixenford Preparatory School near Reading, England, which readied him for his tenure at Eton College. There he pursued his higher education in the esteemed company of such future literary figures as George Orwell, Ian Fleming and Steven Runciman.
Acton was only twenty-five years old when he finished writing The Last Medici, which was originally published in 1932 by Faber and Faber, but the first edition's scarcity prompted a 1958 reissue that was released by Methuen Publishing, Ltd. Upon examining the eloquent prose employed throughout this book, it becomes apparent that for a twenty-five-year-old to have composed a literary work of this complexity and depth was, and most certainly still is, a remarkable accomplishment. The 312-page main text is divided into 27 chapters, the titles of which are comprised of the events and concepts occurring therein, such as Chapter I, The Birth of Cosimo III - Character of Ferdinando II - His Enthusiasms - Scientific Development. There is also a five-page bibliography and an index located at the back of the volume.
This illustrated, deluxe hardcover edition of Harold Acton's The Last Medici was published in 1980 by Thames and Hudson to commemorate a Florentine art exhibition on the Medici occurring that same year, and features an impressive 116 photographs of Medicean art and architecture from the Cinquecento, Seicento and Settecento periods in Italian history. There was unquestionably a considerable amount of hard work and dedication devoted toward every aspect of this title's manufacture, as it is printed on high quality paper and features a new foreword composed in 1980 by Harold Acton, which mainly addresses the illustrations' historical context and the numerous revisions the book underwent throughout the years, also discussing its public reception and critical acclaim. This special edition of The Last Medici was designed and produced by John Calmann and Cooper, London Ltd.
There appears to be a single pervading theme in this magnificent story of the Medici's majestic decline, one which makes its presence felt early on and persists throughout the narrative. It assumes the form of a poignant, eight-word Latin epigram appearing in the first chapter, and symbolizes an entire way of life as it was lived by these beautiful, unapologetically passionate last scions of a glorious lineage - lude, bibas et edas; post mortem nulla voluptas. "Eat, drink and play at leisure; for after death's no pleasure." Harold Acton was well acquainted with living life to its fullest, and enjoying it without regrets, as he was a member of the Bright Young People, an aristocratic society of bohemian pleasure seekers whose favored activities included extravagant ballroom parties and elaborate nighttime treasure hunts through London, among other recreational pursuits.
The Last Medici's initial chapters eloquently introduce the reader to the narrative's dramatis personae while also establishing a powerful aesthetic overtone as they discuss the magnificent gallery of period art and architecture, whose origins span from the Renaissance to the Baroque eras, and can be viewed in all of their tragic grandeur via the brilliant library of illustrations. The reviewer was struck speechless upon viewing for the first time the beautiful, melancholy photograph of the Apenine Colossus at the Pratolino, sculpted for the Grand Duke Francesco I de'Medici in the 1580's by the Flemish sculptor Jean de Boulogne.
The author's elegant, silver-tongued prose style assuredly deserves to be considered in its own artistic class. Anachronistic and bittersweet, Harold Acton's florid mode of literary inflection hearkens back to the halcyon era of the early twentieth century; there is certainly nothing with which to compare it, and its like will sadly never be seen again. He does not attempt to establish any particular underlying morality - there are none of Cicero or Seneca's didactic lessons to be learned here; he simply allows his prose to peregrinate to whatever location, or mood, suits its fancy. The reviewer had never before encountered the work of an author whose style of writing demanded such attention from its reader; often while reading the book I wondered whether Harold Acton understood just how rare his remarkable talents truly were.
The narrative's main cast includes an unforgettable roué's gallery of hopelessly extravagant hedonists and bon vivants - sybaritic noblemen, decadent ladies, and the colorful members of their courts, engaged in the kinds of epicurean pursuits of pleasure one might expect from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century aristocrats. Among the more vibrant characters early on is that of the Cardinal Gian Carlo Medici, a dissolute clergyman who engages in all manner of misconduct and high-living. A particularly descriptive passage of Harold Acton's florid prose can be found in the first chapter, in a paragraph describing the elaborate fêtes staged by Gian Carlo's brother, the Tuscan Grand Duke Ferdinando II de'Medici.
The reader is treated to a seemingly endless procession of feast-days, festivals and theatrical mock-ups in Chapter 5, Wedding Festivities - St John the Baptist's Day - 'Il Mondo Festeggiante' - 'Ercole in Teb'. The Grand Prince Cosimo III de'Medici and Marguerite-Louise d'Orléans' elaborate wedding celebration was inaugurated with a dramatic Roman chariot race that was followed the next day by another relay, called a 'race of barbs', in which riderless horses competed upon a closed-circuit course; St. John Baptist's Day featured a holy procession which bore an array of holy relics and slowly made its way across carpet-festooned streets, even including a forty-three-foot-tall ox-drawn chariot carrying a gigantic torch. But the most impressive spectacles were yet to be seen.
The Il Mondo Festeggiante, The World in Festivity, was "..a series of phantasmagorical tableaux, culminating with a tournament: a parade of costumes, horses and glittering armour, interspersed with musical choruses and madrigals."; and the final attraction was a baroque theatrical performance staged in the Via della Pergola of the Immobili, called Hercules in Thebes, in which Acton describes the "pièce de résistance" as a giant mechanical cloud, which housed within it "..several singers and musicians, armed with a harp, a guitar, two lyres of different sizes, a psaltery, a violin, a triangle and a bass viol, were cleverly concealed. Caccini, a famous Roman singer and composer, climbed into it among them."
Acton recounts the finalization of Cosimo III de'Medici and Marguerite-Louise d'Orléans' divorce in Chapter 11, Louis XIV Opposes Separation; then Acquiesces in 1674 - The Convent of Monmartre Chosen for the Grand Duchess's Retirement - Her Departure, 1675. The couple's very different personalities were the primary cause for the strife between them, which eventually turned to ire, and then malice. Marguerite-Louise was very much accustomed to the privilege she had previously enjoyed at the French court. She was the firstborn daughter of Gaston of France, the Duke of Orléans, and the cousin of the Sun King, Louis XIV, to whom she deferred in her matrimonial strife and petitioned constantly in the effort to have her union annulled. Cosimo III was pious, morose and taciturn, and also extremely unpopular amongst his subjects. He passed an edict suspending the May Florentine festival of Calendimaggio, because he believed it espoused paganism due to its reverence for nature.
The material covered in Chapter 16, The Grand Duchess Applies to Cosimo for Funds - Her Appeal to Prince Ferdinando - Economy in Florence - Marriage of Princess Anna Maria - 'Traattamento Reale' - 'Villainies of the Virtuous' - Taxation - Relics: Cresci and Onnione - Penal Justice and Education, focuses upon a number of topics, among them a series of emotional, often-heartbreaking episodes describing Cosimo and Marguerite-Louise's ongoing marital discontent, with the Grand Duchess' reckless spending habits and penchant for petty intrigue matched only by the Grand Duke's overzealous sense of piety and his unreasonable reluctance to acquiesce to any of his wife's requests, both during their marriage and after their divorce. In 1688, after accumulating a debt to the unbelievable sum of 20,000 crowns, Marguerite-Louise appeals to her husband for financial assistance, which he of course quite predictably refuses to provide.
The Grand Duchess writes a scathing letter to Zipoli, the resident Grand Ducal correspondent, which reads as follows - "'The Grand Duke, who is rich, happy and content, wishes everybody else to do penance; while he lives on the fat of the land, I must fast. When I fast it will be for God, not for him. Unless I obtain the satisfaction I expect, I shall procure the King's authorization to borrow to the extent of the 300,000 crowns I brought him; in short, let him feel that he will get no peace until I receive my money.'". Though widely considered to be a period devoid of historical significance, Harold Acton nonetheless crafts a compelling narrative from Cosimo III de'Medici's fifty-three-year reign that managed to keep the reviewer engaged with his colorful prose style and well-chosen contemporary quotations and excerpts.
Finally, in Chapter 17, The Grand Duchess Removes to Saint-Mondé - Princess Violante's Barrenness - Melancholy Character of Gian Gastone - Cosimo's Neutrality - Popular Discontent the author provides a compelling, albeit brief, portrait of Giovanni Gastone de'Medici, Cosimo III's second born son who succeeded him upon his death in 1723. Gian Gastone's elder brother, the Tuscan Grand Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, was the longstanding court favorite whose patronage of the arts was complemented by his natural talents as a singer and musician. His brother was cut from an entirely different cloth, so to speak. "Prince Gian Gastone cut a pathetic figure; his father took little notice of him: 'the nobility and courtiers only surrounded those in whom the chief authority seemed to reside'; and he was left in the cold, as it were, the dependent , impecunious, just-tolerated younger brother - a romantic temperament, and one neither intelligible nor sympathetic to the tough, national Florentine of the period."
Acton also explores Cosimo III's oppressive taxation and monopolistic trade policies at the middle of his reign, harsh edicts which took their toll on his people as more industries became governed by select individuals who possessed a tremendous degree of power and controlled access to foreign supplies of everyday commodities. The brothers Andrea and Lorenzo del Rosso, upon purchasing a nine-year contract in March 1676 allowing them to regulate the grinding of flour, began placing guards called sbirri at corn mills, and reserved the right to select or dismiss the workers at will. Some citizens managed to circumvent the duchy's salt monopoly by "..extracting theirs from the brine of pilchards and anchovies", but this was discovered by the Grand Duke, who enacted heavy penalties that ended the practice. "There were bans on foreign iron, linseed oil, sulphate of copper, silks; there was, in fact, a harmful and exaggerated system of protection.", which took the form of a bitterly contested sumptuary ban on expensive clothing that deeply distressed many wealthy noble ladies.
Chapter 20, The Grand Duke Goes to Rome for the Jubilee, and Becomes a Canon of the Lateran - Death of Pope Innocent XII - Charles II of Spain and His Will - Election of Clement XI - Cardinal Francesco Maria and Lappeggi contains a stylistic accounting of the Cardinal Francesco Maria de'Medici's life of unrestrained luxury at his opulent Lappeggi estate just outside Florence. The cardinal was a reckless spendthrift who squandered large sums of money on wanton demonstrations of largesse to his servants, who were already stealing from him, and Acton captures the essence of these humorous events in the following passage.
The comparatively brief, thirteen-year reign of Gian Gastone de'Medici, the final Medici Tuscan Grand Duke, proved to be a sharp contrast to that of his father, Cosimo III de'Medici, who ruled fifty-three years, from 1670-1723, and is among the primary topics of discussion in Chapter 25, Succession of Gian Gastone - Montesquieu on Conditions in Florence - The Grand Duke's 'Laissez Faire' - Treaties of Vienna, Hanover and Seville - Gian Gastone Retires to Bed - Giuliano Dami and the 'Ruspanti'. Gian Gastone was a diagnosed hypochondriac who also suffered from a number of real ailments that left him bedridden for the final seven years of his reign; he was, however, immensely popular with his subjects due to his laissez-faire-style government and domestic policies which favored the lower classes. Acton describes a number of his accomplishments in the following excerpts.
Grand Duke Gian Gastone's administration was highly unorthodox, and he largely shunned the nobles who had comprised his father's advisory council, instead allowing one of his sycophants, Giuliano Dami, to cultivate an inner-circle comprised of impoverished-but-comely courtiers who came to be known as Ruspanti, due to the fact that they "..were paid on Tuesdays and Saturdays in ruspi (a ruspo being a Florentine sequin formerly worth ten francs)". This group of attractive young upstarts and ne'er do wells soon monopolized all of the Grand Duke's time and attention and were to play a fairly significant role in the events which were to come.
Harold Acton's The Last Medici is a truly extraordinary book, one filled with extravagance, betrayal, drama, heartache, melancholy, and at times, a hysterically mordant sense of humor - but most of all, it is permeated with a majestically beautiful sadness, the kind which brings a tear to the eye during a moment of quiet reverie. It is a sorrow wrought from the same substance as history's most heartbreaking, tragic heroes - men and women who were of the same caliber as Marc Antony and his Queen, Cleopatra, when, after their defeat at Actium, they plunged into the kind of maudlin, bittersweet state of feigned revelry that is solely reserved for those fighting a lost cause, accompanied by their loyal retainers, the Inimitable Livers, or so the story goes.
This is the chronicle of the last, unapologetically passionate Medici high lords - the descendants of intelligent, resourceful, and most of all, courageous bankers and financiers who wanted something more out of life so they could pass it down onto the next generation. Harold Acton's literary masterpiece is not an easy read - it is written in an outdated, undoubtedly archaic form of literary expression that the modern world is scarcely familiar with, which is a tragedy unto itself, in the reviewer's humble opinion. Nor does its narrative chronicle what one might describe as an action-packed series of events - and yet, there is much here to reward the dedicated reader, should they decide to give this remarkably talented author's work an essay. It was truly an honor to read and review this title and, through it, become introduced to Harold Acton's magnificent style of writing. His like will not soon again be seen. Thank you so very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed the review!
Harold Acton was an English historian and aesthete who lived from 1904-1994 and was the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, but his four most significant historical studies were The Pazzi Conspiracy: The Plot Against the Medici, The Bourbons of Naples, 1734-1825, The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861 and this title, The Last Medici, the only English monograph dedicated to the final years of Grand Ducal Tuscany under Medici rule. Acton was born in Florence, Italy, but he was enrolled by his parents into Wixenford Preparatory School near Reading, England, which readied him for his tenure at Eton College. There he pursued his higher education in the esteemed company of such future literary figures as George Orwell, Ian Fleming and Steven Runciman.
Acton was only twenty-five years old when he finished writing The Last Medici, which was originally published in 1932 by Faber and Faber, but the first edition's scarcity prompted a 1958 reissue that was released by Methuen Publishing, Ltd. Upon examining the eloquent prose employed throughout this book, it becomes apparent that for a twenty-five-year-old to have composed a literary work of this complexity and depth was, and most certainly still is, a remarkable accomplishment. The 312-page main text is divided into 27 chapters, the titles of which are comprised of the events and concepts occurring therein, such as Chapter I, The Birth of Cosimo III - Character of Ferdinando II - His Enthusiasms - Scientific Development. There is also a five-page bibliography and an index located at the back of the volume.
This illustrated, deluxe hardcover edition of Harold Acton's The Last Medici was published in 1980 by Thames and Hudson to commemorate a Florentine art exhibition on the Medici occurring that same year, and features an impressive 116 photographs of Medicean art and architecture from the Cinquecento, Seicento and Settecento periods in Italian history. There was unquestionably a considerable amount of hard work and dedication devoted toward every aspect of this title's manufacture, as it is printed on high quality paper and features a new foreword composed in 1980 by Harold Acton, which mainly addresses the illustrations' historical context and the numerous revisions the book underwent throughout the years, also discussing its public reception and critical acclaim. This special edition of The Last Medici was designed and produced by John Calmann and Cooper, London Ltd.
There appears to be a single pervading theme in this magnificent story of the Medici's majestic decline, one which makes its presence felt early on and persists throughout the narrative. It assumes the form of a poignant, eight-word Latin epigram appearing in the first chapter, and symbolizes an entire way of life as it was lived by these beautiful, unapologetically passionate last scions of a glorious lineage - lude, bibas et edas; post mortem nulla voluptas. "Eat, drink and play at leisure; for after death's no pleasure." Harold Acton was well acquainted with living life to its fullest, and enjoying it without regrets, as he was a member of the Bright Young People, an aristocratic society of bohemian pleasure seekers whose favored activities included extravagant ballroom parties and elaborate nighttime treasure hunts through London, among other recreational pursuits.
The Last Medici's initial chapters eloquently introduce the reader to the narrative's dramatis personae while also establishing a powerful aesthetic overtone as they discuss the magnificent gallery of period art and architecture, whose origins span from the Renaissance to the Baroque eras, and can be viewed in all of their tragic grandeur via the brilliant library of illustrations. The reviewer was struck speechless upon viewing for the first time the beautiful, melancholy photograph of the Apenine Colossus at the Pratolino, sculpted for the Grand Duke Francesco I de'Medici in the 1580's by the Flemish sculptor Jean de Boulogne.
The author's elegant, silver-tongued prose style assuredly deserves to be considered in its own artistic class. Anachronistic and bittersweet, Harold Acton's florid mode of literary inflection hearkens back to the halcyon era of the early twentieth century; there is certainly nothing with which to compare it, and its like will sadly never be seen again. He does not attempt to establish any particular underlying morality - there are none of Cicero or Seneca's didactic lessons to be learned here; he simply allows his prose to peregrinate to whatever location, or mood, suits its fancy. The reviewer had never before encountered the work of an author whose style of writing demanded such attention from its reader; often while reading the book I wondered whether Harold Acton understood just how rare his remarkable talents truly were.
The narrative's main cast includes an unforgettable roué's gallery of hopelessly extravagant hedonists and bon vivants - sybaritic noblemen, decadent ladies, and the colorful members of their courts, engaged in the kinds of epicurean pursuits of pleasure one might expect from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century aristocrats. Among the more vibrant characters early on is that of the Cardinal Gian Carlo Medici, a dissolute clergyman who engages in all manner of misconduct and high-living. A particularly descriptive passage of Harold Acton's florid prose can be found in the first chapter, in a paragraph describing the elaborate fêtes staged by Gian Carlo's brother, the Tuscan Grand Duke Ferdinando II de'Medici.
"During Ferdinando's reign the festivals increased in splendour and elaboration. The character of the medieval tournament had altered: tilting was mingled now with mythological fantasies, fables sung in recitative style, with fireworks, fountains of bubbling wine and intricate architectural machines; it was coupled with music, dances, drama and song..Ferdinando had always some demonstration of this kind up his sleeve, as it were, to amaze his guests after a banquet, and dazzle their eyes with his wealth: the banks of the Arno would be illuminated and barges of musicians would float up to serenade them; or a tourney would be given by torchlight on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, accompanied by masquerades and chariots full of energetic violinists."
The reader is treated to a seemingly endless procession of feast-days, festivals and theatrical mock-ups in Chapter 5, Wedding Festivities - St John the Baptist's Day - 'Il Mondo Festeggiante' - 'Ercole in Teb'. The Grand Prince Cosimo III de'Medici and Marguerite-Louise d'Orléans' elaborate wedding celebration was inaugurated with a dramatic Roman chariot race that was followed the next day by another relay, called a 'race of barbs', in which riderless horses competed upon a closed-circuit course; St. John Baptist's Day featured a holy procession which bore an array of holy relics and slowly made its way across carpet-festooned streets, even including a forty-three-foot-tall ox-drawn chariot carrying a gigantic torch. But the most impressive spectacles were yet to be seen.
The Il Mondo Festeggiante, The World in Festivity, was "..a series of phantasmagorical tableaux, culminating with a tournament: a parade of costumes, horses and glittering armour, interspersed with musical choruses and madrigals."; and the final attraction was a baroque theatrical performance staged in the Via della Pergola of the Immobili, called Hercules in Thebes, in which Acton describes the "pièce de résistance" as a giant mechanical cloud, which housed within it "..several singers and musicians, armed with a harp, a guitar, two lyres of different sizes, a psaltery, a violin, a triangle and a bass viol, were cleverly concealed. Caccini, a famous Roman singer and composer, climbed into it among them."
Acton recounts the finalization of Cosimo III de'Medici and Marguerite-Louise d'Orléans' divorce in Chapter 11, Louis XIV Opposes Separation; then Acquiesces in 1674 - The Convent of Monmartre Chosen for the Grand Duchess's Retirement - Her Departure, 1675. The couple's very different personalities were the primary cause for the strife between them, which eventually turned to ire, and then malice. Marguerite-Louise was very much accustomed to the privilege she had previously enjoyed at the French court. She was the firstborn daughter of Gaston of France, the Duke of Orléans, and the cousin of the Sun King, Louis XIV, to whom she deferred in her matrimonial strife and petitioned constantly in the effort to have her union annulled. Cosimo III was pious, morose and taciturn, and also extremely unpopular amongst his subjects. He passed an edict suspending the May Florentine festival of Calendimaggio, because he believed it espoused paganism due to its reverence for nature.
The material covered in Chapter 16, The Grand Duchess Applies to Cosimo for Funds - Her Appeal to Prince Ferdinando - Economy in Florence - Marriage of Princess Anna Maria - 'Traattamento Reale' - 'Villainies of the Virtuous' - Taxation - Relics: Cresci and Onnione - Penal Justice and Education, focuses upon a number of topics, among them a series of emotional, often-heartbreaking episodes describing Cosimo and Marguerite-Louise's ongoing marital discontent, with the Grand Duchess' reckless spending habits and penchant for petty intrigue matched only by the Grand Duke's overzealous sense of piety and his unreasonable reluctance to acquiesce to any of his wife's requests, both during their marriage and after their divorce. In 1688, after accumulating a debt to the unbelievable sum of 20,000 crowns, Marguerite-Louise appeals to her husband for financial assistance, which he of course quite predictably refuses to provide.
The Grand Duchess writes a scathing letter to Zipoli, the resident Grand Ducal correspondent, which reads as follows - "'The Grand Duke, who is rich, happy and content, wishes everybody else to do penance; while he lives on the fat of the land, I must fast. When I fast it will be for God, not for him. Unless I obtain the satisfaction I expect, I shall procure the King's authorization to borrow to the extent of the 300,000 crowns I brought him; in short, let him feel that he will get no peace until I receive my money.'". Though widely considered to be a period devoid of historical significance, Harold Acton nonetheless crafts a compelling narrative from Cosimo III de'Medici's fifty-three-year reign that managed to keep the reviewer engaged with his colorful prose style and well-chosen contemporary quotations and excerpts.
Finally, in Chapter 17, The Grand Duchess Removes to Saint-Mondé - Princess Violante's Barrenness - Melancholy Character of Gian Gastone - Cosimo's Neutrality - Popular Discontent the author provides a compelling, albeit brief, portrait of Giovanni Gastone de'Medici, Cosimo III's second born son who succeeded him upon his death in 1723. Gian Gastone's elder brother, the Tuscan Grand Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, was the longstanding court favorite whose patronage of the arts was complemented by his natural talents as a singer and musician. His brother was cut from an entirely different cloth, so to speak. "Prince Gian Gastone cut a pathetic figure; his father took little notice of him: 'the nobility and courtiers only surrounded those in whom the chief authority seemed to reside'; and he was left in the cold, as it were, the dependent , impecunious, just-tolerated younger brother - a romantic temperament, and one neither intelligible nor sympathetic to the tough, national Florentine of the period."
Acton also explores Cosimo III's oppressive taxation and monopolistic trade policies at the middle of his reign, harsh edicts which took their toll on his people as more industries became governed by select individuals who possessed a tremendous degree of power and controlled access to foreign supplies of everyday commodities. The brothers Andrea and Lorenzo del Rosso, upon purchasing a nine-year contract in March 1676 allowing them to regulate the grinding of flour, began placing guards called sbirri at corn mills, and reserved the right to select or dismiss the workers at will. Some citizens managed to circumvent the duchy's salt monopoly by "..extracting theirs from the brine of pilchards and anchovies", but this was discovered by the Grand Duke, who enacted heavy penalties that ended the practice. "There were bans on foreign iron, linseed oil, sulphate of copper, silks; there was, in fact, a harmful and exaggerated system of protection.", which took the form of a bitterly contested sumptuary ban on expensive clothing that deeply distressed many wealthy noble ladies.
Chapter 20, The Grand Duke Goes to Rome for the Jubilee, and Becomes a Canon of the Lateran - Death of Pope Innocent XII - Charles II of Spain and His Will - Election of Clement XI - Cardinal Francesco Maria and Lappeggi contains a stylistic accounting of the Cardinal Francesco Maria de'Medici's life of unrestrained luxury at his opulent Lappeggi estate just outside Florence. The cardinal was a reckless spendthrift who squandered large sums of money on wanton demonstrations of largesse to his servants, who were already stealing from him, and Acton captures the essence of these humorous events in the following passage.
"At Easter he would summon them all to assemble, from the major-domo to the stableboys, and beg his pardon on their bended knees. Afterwards, half in fun, half in earnest, he would harangue them thus: 'Now then, accomplished knaves that you are, run quickly and confess. As for me, I absolve you from all your robberies and present you with what you have taken.' This ceremony was repeated every year, and there is little doubt that the scoundrels took advantage of it."
The comparatively brief, thirteen-year reign of Gian Gastone de'Medici, the final Medici Tuscan Grand Duke, proved to be a sharp contrast to that of his father, Cosimo III de'Medici, who ruled fifty-three years, from 1670-1723, and is among the primary topics of discussion in Chapter 25, Succession of Gian Gastone - Montesquieu on Conditions in Florence - The Grand Duke's 'Laissez Faire' - Treaties of Vienna, Hanover and Seville - Gian Gastone Retires to Bed - Giuliano Dami and the 'Ruspanti'. Gian Gastone was a diagnosed hypochondriac who also suffered from a number of real ailments that left him bedridden for the final seven years of his reign; he was, however, immensely popular with his subjects due to his laissez-faire-style government and domestic policies which favored the lower classes. Acton describes a number of his accomplishments in the following excerpts.
"Soon after his accession Gian Gastone abolished some of the most onerous taxes, such as the collette..The poor did not consider themselves so unfortunate..Sufficient alms were distributed to content appetites long controlled by hereditary frugality and sobriety..Only in the winter did they suffer hardship. If they fell ill, they need only knock at the door of one of the numerous hospitals..He had no high-flying aspirations and ideals, no meditated programme of reform. But he was guided by a remarkable common sense, fortified by a keen intolerance of ecclesiastical abuses and sympathy for men of culture."
Grand Duke Gian Gastone's administration was highly unorthodox, and he largely shunned the nobles who had comprised his father's advisory council, instead allowing one of his sycophants, Giuliano Dami, to cultivate an inner-circle comprised of impoverished-but-comely courtiers who came to be known as Ruspanti, due to the fact that they "..were paid on Tuesdays and Saturdays in ruspi (a ruspo being a Florentine sequin formerly worth ten francs)". This group of attractive young upstarts and ne'er do wells soon monopolized all of the Grand Duke's time and attention and were to play a fairly significant role in the events which were to come.
Harold Acton's The Last Medici is a truly extraordinary book, one filled with extravagance, betrayal, drama, heartache, melancholy, and at times, a hysterically mordant sense of humor - but most of all, it is permeated with a majestically beautiful sadness, the kind which brings a tear to the eye during a moment of quiet reverie. It is a sorrow wrought from the same substance as history's most heartbreaking, tragic heroes - men and women who were of the same caliber as Marc Antony and his Queen, Cleopatra, when, after their defeat at Actium, they plunged into the kind of maudlin, bittersweet state of feigned revelry that is solely reserved for those fighting a lost cause, accompanied by their loyal retainers, the Inimitable Livers, or so the story goes.
This is the chronicle of the last, unapologetically passionate Medici high lords - the descendants of intelligent, resourceful, and most of all, courageous bankers and financiers who wanted something more out of life so they could pass it down onto the next generation. Harold Acton's literary masterpiece is not an easy read - it is written in an outdated, undoubtedly archaic form of literary expression that the modern world is scarcely familiar with, which is a tragedy unto itself, in the reviewer's humble opinion. Nor does its narrative chronicle what one might describe as an action-packed series of events - and yet, there is much here to reward the dedicated reader, should they decide to give this remarkably talented author's work an essay. It was truly an honor to read and review this title and, through it, become introduced to Harold Acton's magnificent style of writing. His like will not soon again be seen. Thank you so very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed the review!
August 27, 2012
A monument of style. Just the thing if you go in for monuments.
Read
July 17, 2022idk man it’s a product of its time. interesting but dense and tangential and a little gossipy
August 13, 2016
Very accurate to the sequence of historical events. Informative to the lives and accounts of the people involved. This is a Cardinal edition and I suspect it has been abridged although it doesnt say so.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews