- Cosimo returns to Florence while Rinaldo is held for trial on treason and tyranny. Cosimo is visited by an unexpected guest, the Pope. Cosimo convinces the Signoria to exile Rinaldo. The night before his exile, Rinaldo confesses to Giovanni's murder.
- As the Florentines have overturned the Albizzi party, Rinaldo is jailed as 'traitorous tyrant' in the same cell where he had held Cosmo, who returns home in triumph and . Contessina's jealous indignation at the installation in their private quarters of Cosimo's Venetian slave-whore Maddalena takes a backseat to hostess duties at the arrival of their highest-ever guest: miser pope Eugenius IV, chased by Roman rebels, stays in the Medici palazzo and urges Cosimo to prevent the pope's old friend Rinaldo's death, which seems hopeless as they find Albizzi too bitter to consider any reconciliation, preferring to be executed, still obsessed with the childhood betrayal which the medic patriarch Giovanni had orchestrated, actually abusing his son's confidences. Still an exile for Rinaldo and his devoted son Aso is arranged, but his too long unpaid mercenaries, who threatened Pietro, are out for Albizzi blood even after receiving Medici gold.—KGF Vissers
- The return of the Medici to Florence is an out-and-out triumph, with Albizzi in prison for his attempt to become the citys tyrant. The Signoria is inclined to sentence him to death, but when POPE EUGENE IV having led to Florence following riots in Rome asks for clemency for him, the situation becomes more complicated. While Marco Bello is uncertain whether to reveal to Cosimo his suspicions about Lorenzo, it seems that the latter is now about to be married. In addition, Contessina must deal with the presence of her husbands mistress in her home. The Popes presence, too, makes Cosimo uneasy and pushes him to find a compromise to spare Albizzis life. In the end, Cosimo will have to decide how far he is willing to go to defend his family
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