Florence

The city of the Medici, engine of the Renaissance, where Machiavelli served the restored republic as secretary and diplomat until prison and the farm made him a writer. Galileo later served the Medici court as philosopher and mathematician, and spent his final years under house arrest at nearby Arcetri: blind, guarded, and still dictating science.

Florence made its money in wool and banking and spent it on art and factional politics. Machiavelli served the republic for fourteen years, was tortured and dismissed when the Medici came back, and wrote The Prince at his farm outside the city while hoping for a job that never arrived. Galileo came later as court philosopher to the same family, and after his trial lived under house arrest at Arcetri in the hills above the city, going blind and still dictating.