When the Medici family returned to power in 1512 and again in 1530, they commissioned Baccio Bandinelli to sculpt from Carrara marble this statue of Hercules after killing the giant Vulcan Cacus. It clearly symbolized the House of Medici victory. It still stands in the Piazza della Signoria in front of Palazzo Vecchio. The Medicis were a royal family in the late 14th and 15th century that produced several dukes, two French queens and four Catholic popes.
