Erik Visits a (Non)-American Grave, Part 1,371
By This is the grave of Niccolo Machiavelli.
Born in 1469 in Florence, Machiavelli grew up……oh heck, why do a bio here? You all know more about Machiavelli than I do. Hell, I’ve never even read The Prince. This makes me look bad? Yeah, probably. I was never much into political philosophy or early modern Europe. I could just write up the Wikipedia page, but what is the point of that when I’d have literally nothing to add. I did ask my cat whether it was better to be loved or feared and he proceeded to claw me, so I guess I got the answer. But heck, I was in Florence and my wife wanted to go here and it wasn’t like I was going to just not take a picture of Machiavelli’s grave for this series. I mean, he’s one of these figures that lots of you all like to talk about anyway, so have at it! Maybe I will even read The Prince now.
Niccolo Machiavelli is buried in the Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, Tough place to visit, let me tell you what.
If you would like this series to visit some American political philosophers, about which I might actually have something to say, you can donate to cover the required expenses here. Leo Strauss is in Annapolis, Maryland and Ludwig von Mises is in Hartdale, New York. Previous posts in this series are archived here and here.