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| Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi is a descendant of a once prominent and subsequently disgraced Florentine family. The word “pazzi” means “the crazies” - though the family was not always regarded as such. In the 15th Century, they were a wealthy banking family and among the most prominent of the clans vying for power in the city. But they took their ambitions a step too far in what became known as The Pazzi Conspiracy. In 1478, Lorenzo di Medici (a.k.a. Lorenzo the Magnificent) ruled Florence with his loyal brother Giuliano. The Pope, Sixtus IV had his own ideas about who the powers in this influential city should be. He had ordained six of his nephews as Cardinals in order to expand his interests and holdings in the northern territories. The Medici were an obstacle to his ambitions. The Pope transferred the church’s money from the Medici banks into those of the Pazzi, leaving Lorenzo strapped for cash and hoping that would sufficiently weaken his influence. But this tactic alone was not enough. So, forming an alliance with Francesco Pazzi, one of his new Cardinals (who was also possibly his son) Girolamo Riario and Jacopo Salviati who was the Pope’s nominee for Archbishop of Pisa - and whose appointment had gone insultingly unrecognized by the Medici - Sixtus enlisted the military assistance of a mercenary commander named Montesecco to insure that his forces had the might to overcome the Medici. The plot hinged on the assassination of Lorenzo and Giuliano and it was determined that these could most safely take place as the two knelt to pray in Il Duomo. But, being a religious type of soldier of fortune, Montesecco refused to take part in a murder inside a church. So, the task was divided between two renegade priests (Maffei and Bagnone) who were assigned to slay Lorenzo, and Pazzi and a thug in his family’s employ, Bernardo Baroncelli, would would take care of Giuliano. Meanwhile, the Archbishop Salviati would accompany Montesecco’s troops in taking over the Palazzo Vecchio. But the plot started to unravel faster than a special effects-action movie. Francesco Pazzi did succeed in killing Giuliano - butchering him actually, with 19 stab wounds... not counting one he put in his own leg during his wild fit of thrusting and jabbing. However, Lorenzo fought off the killer priests and escaped, locking himself behind the thick bronze doors of the sacristy. Meanwhile, Archbishop Salviati became separated from his forces at the Palazzo and was captured, along with Montesecco, as the attack on the city hall was repelled. Every last one of Montesecco’s soldiers were slaughtered by a mob outside the castle as they tried to get away. The two would-be killer priests were castrated and unceremoniously hung. Montesecco was tortured, then allowed a soldier’s execution. Pazzi and Salviati were judged to be the leaders and were ceremoniously hung from a window of the Palazzo Vecchio above the Piazza della Signoria. It is reported that Pazzi was naked and disembowled - and if that weren’t indignity enough, his enraged partner in crime, while dangling at the end of his rope, managed to swing himself over and sink his teeth into Pazzi’s shoulder. The Pazzi Conspiracy is a part of history taught to every Florentine schoolchild. One can only guess at what lessons are meant to be gleaned. Don’t bite off more than you can chew? |
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