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| | Italy |
 | | Leaders and then rulers of probably the most illustrious city of the Renaissance, Florence, the Medici family rose from the ranks of merchants and bankers. |
 | | Medici banking and other interests, however, had suffered, and this, together with Lorenzo's patronage of the arts, began to cost the family its fortune, with a undetermined bit of public money thrown in as well. |
 | | By 1758 rumors were circulating of obscene art. |
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