The mass of 1478

On this side of the cathedral you'll find the sacristy, a side room with heavy bronze doors. On Sunday 26 April 1478, those doors saved the life of Lorenzo de' Medici, the man who effectively ruled Florence.

The Pazzi were bankers like the Medici, older in name and furious that the papal account had gone to their neighbours. Together with the archbishop of Pisa and with Rome's knowledge, they decided to take out both brothers at the same moment, and they picked the busiest mass of the year, because both men were certain to be there.

When the bell rang, the knives came out. Giuliano, twenty-four years old, was stabbed in the middle of the church and left on the floor. Lorenzo took a cut to his neck, vaulted over the choir screen and reached the sacristy with a few friends, where the doors slammed shut behind him while fists pounded on the other side.

The revenge went on for days. Conspirators were lowered on ropes from the windows of the town hall, the archbishop hanging beside them in his robes, and the city scratched the name Pazzi off every facade. The man who fled to Constantinople was handed back and hanged a year later. The drawing that goes with this story comes from Leonardo da Vinci, who stood there and sketched the dead man, with notes in the margin about the colour of his coat and stockings as if what he mostly saw was a painter's problem.

Walk the length of Via dei Calzaiuoli down to the square with the row of statues along the facade.