Isabella Medici
Incarnation
Isabella Medici
1542 - 1576 - 2014
Incarnation

Isabella Medici

1542 – 1576 – 2014

On 17 January 2014 I assisted Isabella Medici with her Twitter Resurrection.

Isabella Medici

The first lady of Florence, Isabella Medici (1542-1576) led a privileged life. Pampered by her father, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, she was better educated than almost any woman of her age, had independence, money, and her own estate, the Baroncelli Villa (Villa del Poggio Imperiale) where she held her stylish & intellectual salon. She commissioned & performed new music & poetry, engaged with painting, and debated the fine points of the Tuscan language.

Even so, she could not escape the prejudices of her time. After her father’s death in 1574 her life became difficult. In 1576 she was murdered by her misogynistic husband. And then she was murdered again, by a damnatio memoriae placed on her by her misanthropic brother.

Izzy in the 21st Century

Presuming to imagine what a historical figure might do in a different time period is folly, but it is fascinating folly. I wondered how this remarkable person who was given so much, and from whom so much was taken away, might respond to the 21st century.

I discovered that she thought everything about the 21st century was better than the 16th century, with 2 exceptions:

  1. She was disappointed to see that students with the rare privilege of university study were so often unengaged
  2. And sad to see that the entertainment of social media and the business of digital tools rendered so many physically inactive

To address these issues Izzy created 2 institutions:

  1. Izzy’s Gym, to strengthen the body
  2. Medici University, to strengthen the soul

Isabella “Izzy” Medici continues to serve as Provost of Medici University and as a Personal Trainer at Izzy’s Gym.

Isabella Online

Isabella Medici, headshot, circa 2014
During her lifetime Isabella Medici had been a Florentine beauty. After her murder her brother abused and publicly displayed her corpse to make her look as bad as possible. For her Twitter Resurrection I felt that Izzy would want an avatar that was “decayed with dignity.”
photo of a pair of dog tags around a neck and over a v-neck t-shirt. 1st tag reads: "Isabella Medici, FLOFL, 31 Aug 1542, 16 Jul 1576, uxoricide". 2nd tag reads: "Edie Sedgwick, Youthquaker, 20 Apr 1943, 16 Nov 1971, overdose".

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