Tucked away within the medieval Palazzo Vecchio in Florence is a tiny chapel (barely 150 feet square) completed in the early 1540s that stands as a symbol of the city governmentβs radical transformation in those years. For most of the preceding four decades, Florence had struggled to retain its independence and ancient republican traditions. In 1537, after a succession of popular revolts, hostile occupations, and political realignments, Cosimo I, a descendant of the cadet branch of the Medici family, was installed as the cityβs second duke. His predecessor and cousin, Duke Alessandro, had been assassinated.
Cosimo had learned from Alessandroβs misfortuneβsubservience to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and alliance with the papacy would be essential to the stability of the dynasty he intended to found. Cosimo swiftly consolidated his power by forceful military and political maneuvering. In 1539, he confirmed his imperial vassalage by marrying Eleonora, the daughter of Don Pedro de Β΅lvarez de Toledo, the Emperorβs viceroy in Naples. The marriage was a rare and remarkable love match that, in time, produced eight surviving offspring and a succession that lasted until the early eighteenth century.
The small chapel in Palazzo Vecchio was intended as Duchess Eleonoraβs private oratory, part of a total refurbishment that turned the ancient seat of municipal government into a princely residence. Marshaling Florenceβs preeminent scholars, painters, sculptors, and architects to the task of glorifying his reign, Cosimo was the first of a long line of Italian autocrats to understand
