Montepulciano: 'The Medici Edicts' Exhibition at the Town Hall and

'The Medici Edicts' — documentary exhibition in Montepulciano

The exhibition "The Medici Edicts. Exhibition of edicts, provisions and orders of the Medici Grand Duchy" has opened in Montepulciano, installed on the first floor of the Town Hall (Palazzo Comunale) and at the Civic Museum - Pinacoteca Crociani. Admission is free and visitors can consult original archival documents of notable historical value.

The selection includes edicts and measures issued by the Medici administration for major cities such as Florence, Siena and Pisa, as well as for Montepulciano and the Valdichiana area. The items on display reveal how the Grand Duchy regulated both public affairs and everyday life.

• Document types: administrative edicts, penal provisions, health orders and production regulations.
• Main themes: trade rules (for example rules on selling watermelons), sanitary and production norms, penalties for minor offenses (including those affecting silk farming), and rules on crops and livestock.
• Additional material: 18th-century engravings with portraits of the Grand Dukes to frame the historical context.

The exhibition results from a partnership between the Municipality of Montepulciano, scholars and institutions dedicated to preserving bibliographic and documentary heritage. The show is curated by Paolo Tiezzi Maestri, who specialises in rare books and historic Tuscan collections.

Local administrators note that the initiative broadens the cultural offer and makes otherwise hard-to-access material available to citizens and visitors; the exhibition helps reconstruct a faithful picture of social, economic and administrative life under the Grand Duchy.

Visitor information: the displays are arranged to ease document reading and provide historical context useful to researchers and the general public interested in institutional and everyday life in historical Tuscany.