Lorenzo's Life In Italy

Lorenzo and his family had become major patrons for the public and private building projects of Florence. Lorenzo himself recorded that between 1434 and 1471, his family had spent a sum of 633, 755 florins on buildings, charities, and taxes. This large sum on money was, in Lorenzo’s opinion, well spent since it contributed to the decoration and greatness of Florence. Of the building schemes that Lorenzo was responsible for, a majority of them were located outside of Florence, which made them more vulnerable to destruction. Among those lost are the monastery of San Gallo, rebuilt in 1488, which was described by Vasari as splendorous and was burned to the ground during the siege of Florence in 1530. There is nothing left of Lorenzo’s country
house known as Lo Spedaletto, located near Arezzo, where it is known that Filippino Lippi, Ghirlandaio, and Botticelli had been contracted to decorate with frescos. Yet, other building projects and villas by Lorenzo have been heavily documented, such the villa at Poggio a Caiano. Until recently, the entire canon of early Renaissance Florentine villas consisted of only five houses: Trebbio, Cafaggiolo, Careggi, Fiesole, and Poggio a Caiano, all of which belong to the Medici family.