The Granducato di Toscana history started diverging in 1628 when the young Ferdinando II de Medici was having his formative trip around Europe. In Prague he met the young Japanese aristocrat Hogai Hara and his beautiful sister Aoi Hara, following Ferdinando’s uncle Ferdinand of Habsburg, while their father was in a long term diplomatic mission in Europe for the Japanese empire.
A strong friendship started between Ferdinando and Hogai, and someone will say even a romantic relationship, due to Ferdinando’s bisexuality.
This relationship strengthens Ferdinando’s personality, and he started being interested in Asian Culture, due to his great passion in science and culture.
Back to Florence he became Granduca of Tuscany and he broke the engagement with Vittoria della Rovere, and, in a pair of years, he overthrow his Granmother’s and Mother’s influence on politics.
He married Aoi Hara and appointed her brother First Ambassador of Tuscany.
He made great efforts in the reclamation of the Chiana swamps, he improved the agricultural system in Tuscany and he became a great mecenate for science and culture (he supported Galileo Galilei).
In 1634 he made the Lex de libertate spiriti, that, in an unicum in European History in that century, stated freedom of religion and non discrimination for non-Christians.
This brought great prosperity due to the coming of Jewish (and jewish capitals) and of Ottomans exiled peoples and the beginning of Buddhist Shinto Taoist cultural compenetration in Europe and a revival of Classical Neopaganism. But this brought up to a war with Papal States with the economical supporting of Spain. In 1636-1638, the Heretical War.
On the Tuscan side there were Republic of Venice, Duchy of Modena and Duchy of Parma, with Dutch Economic support and a little Japanese Mercenary troop, hired by the Hara family, comprehending 160 exiled samurai knights. On the Pope’s side there were Mantova Duchy and Spanish, with economic and naval support.
Papal legacy doomed for more than an year, conquering both Duchy of Modena and Parma and all southern part of Tuscany.
After the battle of San Gimignano in 12 December 1937, in which Samurai troop smashed away 80% of papal Troops, Tuscany started winning.
Tuscany conquered back all the lost territories plus Mantova and the Papal Reggio Emilia.
With the Pax Universi in 1639 Pope and Ferdinando agreed Papal Territories will acquire Modena and Parma and Tuscany Mantova and Reggio Emilia and granted autonomy to Granducato policy of freedom of religion but they agree to state Catholic Religion as the main one.
Before Venice Army could go back, Venice had been conquered with a Spanish surprise attack.
Someone says this treaty had contributed to lighten much the religious fight in Europe and open the way to the Agreement of God’s Umperscrutable Light in Munich, ending definitively the Religion Wars in Europe in 1689.
Under Ferdinando II the Tempio dello Spirito in Florence was build as a Christian-Buddhist-Neopaganist church/temple, and with its eclectic Italian Baroque Asian Mixed style is still considered one of the World’s Marvels.
The building of the Temple, the War and the reforms and mechanism of Ferdinando brings Tuscany near to bankruptcy; for this reason Federico Hira de’Medici, Aoi Hara and Ferdinando’s son, started a courageous colonial project with Jewish Capitals in 1698.
He leased an expeditions up in the Mississippi river, trying to find an unsettled territory. They founded a little town at the confluence of Mississippi and Ohio river, calling it Nova Florentia. They set up a little but prosperous colony, allying with Chickasaw Indian Nation and helping them to modernize without losing identity in exchange of mutual protection.
Japanese expansion soon limited the “American Flower” expansion and, in 1734 Tuscany, understanding his petty influence in comparison with the great powers struggling for colonial influence, signed a treaty with Spain, Dutch, Japan, Britain, France and Native Tribes, the Stability Treaty, that granted to the American Flower inviolability if Tuscany perpetually renounced to any colonial attempt in America, Asia, Africa and Pacific Islands and fixed the little colonies to 1734 borders.
The colony so was very tiny (8.473 km2), but heavily cultivated and developed as a Second Little Italy, with a lot of agricultural infrastructures and a little capital (Nova Florentia) with a flowering artisan production and beautiful architecture. Culture was a mix of Italian, Japanese and American Natives one.
The American Colony provided Tuscany the economical resources needed to remain prosperous, but it didn’t prevent Piedmont-Sardinia Savoia’s Kings to conquer Tuscany in 1859.
Alberto Hara de Medici and his family went to Nova Florentia, where organized a rebellion that permitted Tuscany secession from Savoia’s 20 years later, joining an Italian sort of confederation with the five other remaining Italian States.