After the death of Grand Duke Gian Gastone, the last Medici, the important European countries in Vienna decided to give Tuscany to Francis I Duke of Lorraine, French-Austrian dynasty. He was succeeded by Peter Leopold I, Ferdinando II, Ferdinando III and finally by Leopoldo II.
After the death of Grand Duke Gian Gastone, the last Medici, the important European countries in Vienna decided to give Tuscany to Francis I Duke of Lorraine, French-Austrian dynasty. He was succeeded by Peter Leopold I, Ferdinando II, Ferdinando III and finally by Leopoldo II. While the arrival of the Lorraine family in Florence revived the town's economy, it unfortunately also accentuated its provincial mentality which prevented Florence from participating in international cultural expansion and the consequences for the town lasted for a long while. In the face of this the techniques of Ammannati and Buontalenti greatly influenced architecture and this can be seen in the works of Pierfrancesco Silvani, Foggini, and, at the turn of the 18th Century, Ruggieri. In the mid-18th Century, when international culture was once more open to discussion, the Lorraines asked the Frenchman Jadot to come to Florence to9 provide a neo-Classical touch. Neo-classicism in Florence is of strong historical flavour, good taste and elegance seen in the little Meridiana palace in Boboli and the White Room in Palazzo Pitti, among others. Meanwhile the upturn in the economy was testified by the lenghthening Via Larga, two new bridges were built and the roads along the banks of the Arno were extended beyond the city walls, whilst the poor districts became more and more built-up. When Leopold II of Lorraine again gained control of the town, assisted by the Austrian troops, in an atmosphere of imminent social crisis and flare-up of class warfare, the ideals of beauty and elegance of the neo- classical period were substituted by the enlightening theory to return to nature and the liberty of mankind. The increasing contrast between the expansion of the new residential districts near the city walls and the disquieting continual increase in the number of people living in the poor quarters, were the main cause of social warfare and revolutions, whilst the birth of industrial economy emphasised the problem of the working classes' conditions.

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