It’s BGW day, and that means it’s time for History Nobody Actually Wants to Hear About™. It’s Lorenzo de’ Medici’s 524th birthday today, and no, not that Lorenzo de’ Medici. The one we’re talking about was his grandson, and was substantially less magnificent.
Probably best known as the (possibly satirical) subject of Niccolo Macchiavelli’s The Prince, the younger Medici had a rather undistinguished career: his appointment as Duke of Urbino touched off the War of Urbino, which he lost. His daughter, Catherine de’ Medici, ended up marrying Henry II Valois of France. Lorenzo himself died at the age of 26 from syphilis just three weeks after her birth and was buried in a magnificent, Michelangelo-sculpted tomb in the Medici Chapel in the Basilica San Lorenzo.
He’s not much of a Medici, honestly, but he’s the best I could scrounge up on short notice, and it’s not every day I get to write a one of these on a Medici birthday. What this has to do with anything even remotely Fiorentina-related, well, um. I’ll let Colin handle that one for me.
Latest news
Team captain, local legend, and all-around righteous dude Gonzalo Rodriguez will open contract extension talks with the team in October, and sounds confident that they’ll hammer it out pretty painlessly.
Le Coq Sportif has released the new third kits. They’re orange. Like, very orange.
Finally, Fiorentina had a game against Genoa. They started it. They haven’t finished it. Here’s our abbreviated coverage of an abbreviated match.
Must read
Okay, so it’s not really a must-read, but Paulo Sousa started a tornado in a teacup by moving down the street. There’s a moral here somewhere.
Equally unexciting is the news of some changes to the format here on Viola Nation. If you’re interested, take some time to familiarize yourself with the new stuff.
Hey, remember when the Mario Gomez transfer saga finally ended? Haha, nope, because that never happened. It’s still going.
Comment of the week
Not sure whether to congratulate NickVit on getting his progeny involved or call Child Protective Services on him. Go back and click on the link in the comment if you want to see an adorable Viola baby.
That’s it for this week, folks. Get ready for that midweek Europa fixture. Also, make sure you’re hydrated. Hydration is very important.