Francesco Guicciardini was an Italian historian and statesman. A friend and critic of Niccolò Machiavelli, he is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance. In his masterpiece, The History of Italy, Guicciardini paved the way for a new style in historiography with his use of government sources to support arguments and the realistic analysis of the people and events of his time.
Francesco Guicciardini
Palazzo Guicciardini in Florence
Guicciardini Family Arms
Statue of Guicciardini in the Uffizi, Florence
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise The Prince, written around 1513 but not published until 1532, five years after his death. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science.
Portrait by Santi di Tito, c. 1550–1600
Oil painting of Machiavelli by Cristofano dell'Altissimo
Machiavelli's tomb in the Santa Croce Church in Florence
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici, to whom the final version of The Prince was dedicated