Cosimo grows up worshipping his father, a tough army guy who even held the lamp while surgeons amputated his own leg. An only child, Cosimo grows up with a chip on his shoulder. Brought up in the country by his protective mother, the leaders of Florence underestimate him.

As Capo Cosimo transforms Florence in less than a decade, restoring stability and confidence to a city ruined by Medici excess. He also gets rid of all traces of republican government. Florence is now an autocracy and he is the King.

Cosimo trusts Vasari, his faithful spin doctor, responsible for inventing the legend of the Medici, and the notion of the Renaissance itself.

Cosimo loves his sports - boxing, tennis, athletics, hunting - and is not afraid of intrigue. He even advises his friends on efficient methods of poison, and sets up an army of secret police.

A faithful husband, Cosimo loses his first wife, and two of his sons, to the same bout of malaria. One of his daughters is murdered, two others die young. At the age of 51, in the throes of a mid-life crisis, he marries his mistress, Camilla. In 1572 he's had enough and steps aside.