For example, the Medici family that controlled Renaissance Florence manipulated progressive tax rates to ruin their rivals.

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Although the Medici family came back to power in Florence, never again would Italy dominate European finance.

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In the fifteenth century, the Medici family of bankers and merchants rose in Templar-like fashion, amassing vast wealth and influence.

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Florence was a wealthy medieval city that became the birthplace of the Renaissance, fostered by patrons like the Medici family and flowered by artists such as Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Botticelli and Brunelleschi.

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While most international curators often arrange their collections according to style, artist, medium or location, the collection of art in the Vasari corridor is unique in that it hangs chronologically, often in the same spot where various members of the Medici family had originally displayed it.

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