The exhibition itinerary "In the Medici Splendor – Pope Leo X and Florence” (March 26 – October 6, 2013 – Florence, Medici Chapel Museum) reconstructs the life of Giovanni, second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, from his birth in Florence in 1475 until 11 March 1513 - the year in which he was elected pope -, and his brief return to his homeland in 1515.
The introductory section dedicated to the Medici lineage is followed by the first two sections which tell us about the birth and education of Giovanni, and the numerous works on display aim to reconstruct the cultural climate in which the future pontiff was trained, giving an account of those who took care of the early education of the young Medici. In a cultured and refined atmosphere, he was able to associate with the major artists of the time, including the young Michelangelo, Andrea Sansovino, and then Giovanfrancesco Rustici, and Francesco Granacci.
Elected cardinal at an early age, Giovanni lived in Florence until the expulsion of the Medici in 1494, when the future pontiff experienced the dramatic fate of his family on his own skin, recounted in the exhibition through the engravings by Pietro Santi Bartoli. With the return of the Medici to Florence in 1512 and with the pictorial evidence of that period, which coincided with Giovanni's election to the papal throne under the name of Leo X, the third section of the exhibition concludes.
The fourth traces the pontificate of Leo X and the reflections it had in the city, while the fifth gives an account of the arrival of the pontiff in Florence, his hometown, on November 30, 1515, when the pope entered the city through an itinerary made suggestive by the numerous apparatuses placed in symbolic places, created by the most celebrated artists. The pictorial and sculptural works are flanked by the numerous goldsmith's shops and the highly refined wallpapers made in Florence to celebrate the leonine pontificate. The sixth section retraces the events of the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo with drawings and manuscripts, while the seventh and last section retraces, graphically, the history of the facade, never built, of the church of San Lorenzo.
Enel supports "A year in art 2013" confirming the attention to the cultural and artistic enhancement of the cultural and artistic heritage of the city of Florence. Enel operates in the Florentine area to combine technological innovation with the tradition of Florentine and Italian culture, of which this initiative is an important expression.
