Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Ferdinando I became Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1587 after his older brother Francesco I died, inheriting a realm he'd transform through canals as much as courtly spectacle. He expanded the Naviglio canal and launched an irrigation project in the Val di Chiana, remaking the land itself. When Henry III of France was assassinated, Ferdinando backed the successor Henry IV with Medici gold, securing a French ally. He also expanded Tuscan culture, presenting Jacopo Peri's Euridice — an early landmark in the birth of opera. He ruled for twenty-two years and died on 17 February 1609, leaving Tuscany wea…