31 October 1737 Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, the Electress Palatine and last descendant of the grand ducal branch of the Medici, refused to stand by and watch the end of the dynasty that had marked the destiny of Florence for more than four centuries.

She responded to the approaching Austrian rule by the House of Lorraine with a legal act under which all the assets that formed part of the Medici collections were bound to the city of Florence, establishing it definitively as a city of art.

The protagonist of this book is the history of Florence, from its origins to that fateful day, narrated in the first person by the Electress Palatine herself, accompanied by her inquisitive and loyal servant Maria.