Diptych of federico da montefeltro and battista sforza

private sector banker

Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici was an Italian banker, a member of Medici family of Florence, and the founder of the Medici Bank.

Career

While other family members, such as Chiarissimo di Giambuono de' Medici, who served in the Signoria in 1201, and Salvestro de' Medici, who was implicated in the Ciompi Revolt of 1378, are historically significant, Giovanni's founding of the family bank truly began the family's rise to power in Florence. He was the father of Cosimo de' Medici (Pater Patriae), great-grandfather of Lorenzo de' Medici (the Magnificent) and great-great-great-grandfather of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici was born in Florence, the son of Averardo de' Medici and Jacopa Spini.

Giovanni was somewhat uninterested in politics, unless the issues pertained to his family or bank. Often when his Biography of michael jackson.