Pazzi Conspiracy
Messer Jacopo Rides Forth
the town hall of Florence
Then appeared the next actor in the drama: Messer Jacopo de' Pazzi, the head of the Pazzi family, the same man who was so reluctant to join the plot. His role was to ride through the streets and raise the people. He had returned to his family's ancient noble status, foregoing public service, so he now put on his armor and sword and rode through the streets on horseback, calling out popolo è libertà!, which was the traditional cry of revolution in Florence. The somewhat fuzzy idea of the conspirators was that when the people heard that the Medici were dead, and they saw the grand old man riding in the name of liberty and the people, well then by golly everything would just fall into place. They evidently had no specific plans beyond that. Just to help things along, Messer Jacopo had a hundred mounted soldiers riding at his back.
They rode to the Piazzi della Signoria, where they expected to find the Palazzo in the hands of the Archbishop. Instead, they found the piazza empty, the doors barred, and endured insults and stones hurled down from the tower. This wasn't in the script, and no one seemed to know what to do next. They milled about for a while, made a half-hearted attempt on the door, and pretty soon the mercenaries were getting nervous. No great crowds were gathering; on the contrary, the people of Florence for the most part were hiding in their homes, waiting to see which way matters would go.