Per una rinnovata immagine dell'ultimo cardinale mediceo. Dall'epistolario di Francesco Maria Medici (1660-1711)

«The claimant and the lord of all entertainments» or «a great cardinal, authoritative and respected by all the princes in Europe»? This essay examines the figure of Francesco Maria Medici, the family's last cardinal and only brother of the granduke Cosimo III. Extremely underestimated by the historiography, which has not been at all indulgent to the last members of the dynasty, he has always been considered the one who collected all the possible evils of the last phase of the Medici's domination and the main responsible for the extinction of the family. By a study on his rich collection of letters and a new reading of the literature about him, with a special regard on his patronage of music and theatre, this essay turns upside down the common opinion. Through his continuous and frenetic correspondence we can see the figure of an influential politician, the patron of many arts, as well as the cornerstone of the fragile family's balance, whom all his relatives relied to, looking for his effective support and usual benevolence.