Leo XI: One of the Shortest Reigning Popes

Walking Tours of Florence

Coat of arms of Pope Leo XI, Archbishop's Palace

---

The Medici family in Florence produced a grand total of three popes; two are very famous, Leo X (r. 1513-21) and Clement VII (r. 1523-34), but the third is much less well-known. Perhaps, one of the reasons why so few people have heard of Leo XI is that he died within a month of being elected. 

Cardinal Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici (1535-1605), the great-nephew of Pope Leo X, became Pope Leo XI on April 1st, 1605, only to die twenty-six days later on April 27th. His reign is one of the shortest in papal history. (The record is held by Pope Urban VII, who reigned from September 15th to September 27th, 1590.)

During his long tenure as the archbishop of Florence, Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici was responsible for the rebuilding of the Palazzo Arcivescovile (Archbishop's Palace), which is situated opposite the baptistery in Piazza di San Giovanni. The papal coat-of-arms, complete with the Medici family's balls, graces the north-east corner of the palace.

The three roses and the inscription SIC FLORUI (thus I flourished), which one sees at the base of the coat of arms, refer to the brevity of the pope's reign. Pope Leo XI, like the rose, only bloomed for a short time. He came to be known as Papa Lampo (the Lightning Pope). ​