Cosimo de Medici Returns to Florence

1434

The exiled banker re-entered the city through the San Gallo gate to crowd acclamation, and the Albizzi fled. Cosimo never held formal office. He preferred to rule through allies placed in the Signoria and loans forgiven at strategic moments. Florence was now, essentially, a family business. Over three decades he commissioned Brunelleschi and Donatello, turning cultural patronage into an instrument of political power.