Gian Gastone de Medici

Italian nobility, the seventh and last Medicean Grand Duke of Tuscany who reigned from 31 October 1723 until his death on 9 July 1737. He was the second son of Grand Duke Cosimo III and Marguerite Louise d'Orléans. He married the wealthy and widowed Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg in 1697. The couple despised each other and had no children. For the latter part of his reign, Gian Gastone chose to remain confined in his bed, tended by his entourage, the Ruspanti, a team of poor, handsome young men assembled for orgies by Medici's favourite lover, the court attendant Giuliano Dami. The Grand Duke's reign was marked by the reversal of his predecessor's conservative policy; he abolished taxes for poorer people, repealed penal laws which restricted Jews and discontinued public executions. Upon Medici's death he was succeeded by François I, duc de Lorraine, ending almost 300 years of Medici rule over Florence.