Contents:
Prologue: A city under siege: 'Florence in ashes rather than under the Medici' -- 1. Migrants: Bonagiunta, Chiarissimo and their descendants, 1216-1348 -- 2. Survivors: Salvestro, Foligno, Bicci and Vieri, 1348-1400 -- 3. The fortune: Giovanni di Bicci, 1400-1425 -- 4. Politics: Giovanni di Bicci, Averardo and Cosimo, 1426-1433 -- 5. For honour and profit: Cosimo the banker, 1434-1450 -- 6. The republican toga: Cosimo the politician, 1451-1464 -- 7. The succession crisis: Piero the Gouty, 1464-1469 -- 8. Youth at the helm: Lorenzo and Giuliano, 1469-1479 -- 9. Pride: Lorenzo the Magnificent, 1480-1492 -- 10. Nemesis: Piero and Cardinal Giovanni, 1492-1503 -- 11. Exile: Cardinal Giovanni, Giulio and Giuliano, 1504-1512 -- 12. Age of gold: Pope Leo X, 1513-1521 -- 13. Age of iron: Pope Clement VII, 1521-1530 -- 14. Imperial poodles: Pope Clement VII, Ippolito, Alessandro and Cosimo, 1531-1543 -- 15. The new Augustus: Cosimo I, 1544-1559 -- 16. Grand Duke: Cosimo I, 1560-1574 -- 17. Adultery: Francesco I and Cardinal Ferdinando, 1574-1587 -- 18. Cardinal to Grand Duke: Ferdinando I, 1587-1609 -- 19. The unlucky prince: Cosimo II, Christine of Lorraine and Maria Magdalena of Austria, 1609-1628 -- 20. Science and religion: Ferdinando II, 1628-1670 -- 21. Vanity: Cosimo III, 1670-1723 -- 22. Extinction: Gian Gastone, 1723-1737 -- Epilogue: Revival.