ABSTRACT
On the night of 6 January 1537 Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence, was assassinated. The Florentine historian Benedetto Varchi suggests the atmosphere of panic and deception following the assassination. Before the news of the duke's death was made public, four eminent citizens - including Francesco Vettori and Francesco Guicciardini - were called to a secret meeting in the Palazzo Medici and were asked what they would do if the duke were dead. They all remained silent: this could well have been either a trick on the part of the duke to test their loyalty or a threat by Lorenzino de' Medici, who would very likely have been the killer.1 As a matter of fact, Vettori had warned Alessandro that it was not safe for a prince to walk around the city without an escort and even less so to trust one particular person, Lorenzino.2 The duke did not listen to this advice and was slaughtered in Lorenzino's bedroom where, instead of finding a mistress, he met an unattractive hitman, Scoronconcolo. Had Alessandro followed Vettori's counsel, he might well have been able to avoid such an untimely and violent death.
