Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici (4 August 1463 – 20 May 1503), nicknamed the Popolano, was an Italian banker and politician, the brother of Giovanni il Popolano. He belonged to the junior (or "Popolani") branch of the House of Medici of Florence.

Biography

Lorenzo was born in Florence, the son of Pierfrancesco de' Medici (the Elder) and Laudomia Acciaioli. Relations between the senior Medici branch and the younger "Popolani" branch had been tense since the 1440s, and Pierfrancesco had tried to shield his sons from the influence of the senior branch. But Lorenzo and Giovanni were still boys when their father Pierfrancesco died in 1476, and they promptly came under the tutelage of their older cousin, Lorenzo (il Magnifico), the effective ruler of Florence. Facing financial difficulties after 1478, Lorenzo il Magnifico plundered the Popolani boys' inheritance with "forced loans".