Yes, Florentines bathed back in the Renaissance. Some more luxuriously than others.

Oftentimes, I stand staring at Cosimo de' Medici’s elaborate bathing chamber in his Palazzo Vecchio and imagine the flow of servants bringing up pails of hot water. Then I imagine Cosimo reclining on the rather cold, grey stone and his discomfort possibly tempered by the delightful mythological frescoes on the walls and ceiling. Once the Grand Duke is whisked away in damp silk robes, the same flow of servants must drain the bath and carry out buckets of his bath water.
Did Cosimo actually ever take a bath in that rather ominous looking stone structure? Only his wife, Eleanora de Toledo, can answer that question…and, of course, the servants charged with the task of toting his water to and from his ornate bath.


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