The season opens onto a Florence that has been excommunicated by the Pope who has a proclamation posted in Piazza dei Priori in Volterra (PI). The Priors gather to decide the future of Florence in the palace’s Sala del Maggior Consiglio. Piazza Pio II in Pienza, with the Duomo that can be seen in various scenes, provides the façade of the Medici palace, although the side used by the Lorenzo and his family and the inner courtyard is actually Palazzo Piccolomini. A common destination for the main characters, heading to meetings with the Pope, Rome is first represented by the Parco degli Acquedotti, Castel Sant’Angelo and the Colosseum, although the exteriors of the Papal Curia are those of Palazzo dei Papi in Viterbo.
In addition to the locations, there are more new elements in Season 3 of Medici. The episodes chart the growth in the influence of Girolamo Savonarola who preaches inside and outside the Church and Convent of San Marco in Firenze: the background behind him is actually the ancient Church of San Pietro alla Carità in Tivoli. The garden is in a totally different location, being the cloister of the Church of St. John the Baptist dei Genovesi, in Rome.
The fictional residence in Pistoia, where Lorenzo sends his family to keep them safe from the smallpox epidemic devastating the city, is actually Casino Farnese in Caprarola (VT), built as a hunting lodge in the mid 1500s near Palazzo Farnese. The other façade, which overlooks the palace, gardens and statuary, in particular the great glass-shaped fountain crowned with two statues, a basin and various sprays of water, stands in for the Vatican Gardens.
Once again, Lorenzo is looking for allies to defeat his enemies and save his bank. The battle against Girolamo Riario will take him to the court of King Ferdinand in Naples although he doesn’t actually reach the city, represented for the series by the 13th century Castle of Santa Severa which, like Castel dell’Ovo, stands on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Orsini-Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano is used as the King of Naples’s residence and also, from a different angle, as the Sarzana Fortress where Lorenzo’s councillor goes to request the payment of a loan agreed by the Gonfaloniere with the Medici Bank.
Refusing to accept the peace treaty that Lorenzo pledges to uphold in the complex geopolitical context, Riario storms Ferrara, breaking the truce imposed by Lorenzo, hoping to force the Medici’s to attack and weaken Florence. The city under attack, however, is actually Castello Brunelleschi in Castelfiorentino. Peace is finally agreed upon, not in Florence as Lorenzo wished but in Bagnolo, actually Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola.
The third season again features the hemicycle of Villa Giulia in Rome (home to the National Etruscan Museum). The frescoed portico, used previously for Lorenzo’s wedding to Clarice Orsini, is now Cardinal Bianco’s palazzo and the setting for a crucial meeting between Clarice and Riario’s wife Caterina Sforza.
The season opens onto a Florence that has been excommunicated by the Pope who has a proclamation posted in Piazza dei Priori in Volterra (PI). The Priors gather to decide the future of Florence in the palace’s Sala del Maggior Consiglio. Piazza Pio II in Pienza, with the Duomo that can be seen in various scenes, provides the façade of the Medici palace, although the side used by the Lorenzo and his family and the inner courtyard is actually Palazzo Piccolomini. A common destination for the main characters, heading to meetings with the Pope, Rome is first represented by the Parco degli Acquedotti, Castel Sant’Angelo and the Colosseum, although the exteriors of the Papal Curia are those of Palazzo dei Papi in Viterbo.
In addition to the locations, there are more new elements in Season 3 of Medici. The episodes chart the growth in the influence of Girolamo Savonarola who preaches inside and outside the Church and Convent of San Marco in Firenze: the background behind him is actually the ancient Church of San Pietro alla Carità in Tivoli. The garden is in a totally different location, being the cloister of the Church of St. John the Baptist dei Genovesi, in Rome.
The fictional residence in Pistoia, where Lorenzo sends his family to keep them safe from the smallpox epidemic devastating the city, is actually Casino Farnese in Caprarola (VT), built as a hunting lodge in the mid 1500s near Palazzo Farnese. The other façade, which overlooks the palace, gardens and statuary, in particular the great glass-shaped fountain crowned with two statues, a basin and various sprays of water, stands in for the Vatican Gardens.
Once again, Lorenzo is looking for allies to defeat his enemies and save his bank. The battle against Girolamo Riario will take him to the court of King Ferdinand in Naples although he doesn’t actually reach the city, represented for the series by the 13th century Castle of Santa Severa which, like Castel dell’Ovo, stands on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Orsini-Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano is used as the King of Naples’s residence and also, from a different angle, as the Sarzana Fortress where Lorenzo’s councillor goes to request the payment of a loan agreed by the Gonfaloniere with the Medici Bank.
Refusing to accept the peace treaty that Lorenzo pledges to uphold in the complex geopolitical context, Riario storms Ferrara, breaking the truce imposed by Lorenzo, hoping to force the Medici’s to attack and weaken Florence. The city under attack, however, is actually Castello Brunelleschi in Castelfiorentino. Peace is finally agreed upon, not in Florence as Lorenzo wished but in Bagnolo, actually Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola.
The third season again features the hemicycle of Villa Giulia in Rome (home to the National Etruscan Museum). The frescoed portico, used previously for Lorenzo’s wedding to Clarice Orsini, is now Cardinal Bianco’s palazzo and the setting for a crucial meeting between Clarice and Riario’s wife Caterina Sforza.
Big Light Productions, Lux Vide, Rai Fiction, Altice Studio
Several months after the Pazzi Conspiracy and the death of Giuliano, Lorenzo the Magnificent is tormented by the desire to revenge his brother. He will have to employ all his diplomatic skill and quickness to defeat Riario and save his family, Florence and the Medici bank.
