Florence

Florence claims the Portinari boys as they return from Rome, purses heavy with gold from selling the forged antique statue to a gullible cardinal. Cromwell's tale paints the city as a merchant's reward: crowded streets echo with coin clinks, traders haggle under soaring towers and marble facades, the Arno's flow mirroring the rush of illicit profit. This Tuscan hub rewards cunning like young Cromwell's, blending commerce's thrill with deception's shadow in the morning light of Austin Friars' retelling.