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The series <i>Medici: Master of Florence </i> is a family drama of the famous Medici household that shaped the Italian Renaissance in the 15th century and continued continues to be influential long after. The series begins with the death of the household patriarch, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici who may have died of poisoning, and the subsequent control of the family business by Cosimo de' Medici, who then led the household along with his brother Lorenzo de' Medici.

====What story does the show tell?Key Plot====The series begins with the poisoning of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (Dustin Hoffman) and Cosimo Cosomo de' Medici (Richard Madden) taking over the by then well known and established Medici bank. By this time, the business was flourishing and among the largest in Europe with branches in many cities. The family also had close connections with the papacy, as they were responsible for the finances of the Pope. Throughout the series, flashbacks show Giovanni training his children, Cosimo and Lorenzo, in the family banking business. Giovanni was also obsessed with and being very controlling his children's' of their lives, including who they could marry. Cosimo was influenced to marry Contessina de' Bardi (Annabel Scholey), which ended up being a sometimes strained marriage, although Contessina was loyal to Cosimo. Giovanni and Lorenzo also had great tension with his other son, Lorenzo (Stuart Martin)father, also had a terrible relationship. Giovanni constantly meddled in Lorenzo's involving his love life.

The Two key plots play throughout the first season focuses on two separate, but related stories. First, Cosimo was elected to an important seat in the Signoria of Florence, which was effectively its government. His election to the Signoria This caused great jealousy among his rivals, namely Rinaldo degli Albizzi (Lex Shrapnel), who headed the Albizzi family. Second, The second key plot was the murder of Cosimo's father was murdered and it that was investigated by Marco Bella (Guido Caprino), a close family associate. The rising power of Cosimo created a power struggle in creates great jealousy among some of the Signoria, with Rinaldo eventually successfully accusing Cosimo of usury. While Although they fail to have Cosimo avoids being sentenced to death - , he was is exiled to Venice, but his exile was temporary.

After some time, Cosimo later returned after Florence's fortunes declined. returns to Florence as things turned poorly for the city, where it was in financial difficulty and mercenaries were causing trouble because the city's mercenaries had become a burden. Signoria decided it was time , leading them to invite back Cosimo back Florenceto the Signoria. In his return, Cosimo successfully eventually is successful in exiled exiling his Albizzi rival, who had taken control of the government in Florence. Tensions in the investigation of Cosimo's father murder boiled boil over as at first Lorenzo and then Marco was are accused of murdering Giovanni.  Meanwhile, Albizzi himself is murdered just as began he tries to begin his exile. People immediately assumed that , which implicates Cosimo was responsible for his death because Albizzi since he was seen as his main rival. However, Cosimo that was not involved but a plot by Jacopo de' Pazzi, another member of the Signoria and the head of a Florentine prominent family, Jacopo de' Pazzi (Daniel Caltagirone), rubbed out Albizzihead in Florence. He had Albizzi killed and sought to try to frame Cosimo so he could take the banking account of the Papacy. Essentially, he wanted to kill two birds with one stone.  Unfortunately for Pazzi, this plot This failed when a letter was is uncovered that implicated him in Albizzi's deathPazzi. Lorenzo, Cosimo's brother, however, was killed after he and Marco captured a Pazzi assassin. Nevertheless, the Medici family gained some of their previous prominences gains prominence again as they regained regain the Pope's (David Bamber) favor and ultimately Florence's. The murder of Giovanni is finally uncovered when the Medici's a close banking associatewho kept records, Ugo, confessed to murdering Giovanni. Ugo Bencini (Ken Bones) because he was ordered to kill a lover of LorenzoLorezo's that was pregnant with Lorenzo's child. Unfortunately, he had His regret in this led him to kill Giovanni as part of the plot and regretted the murder.