Francis I is Duke of Modena and Reggio. The city is inhabited by fewer than ten thousand people. The duke faces serious problems, such as the bubonic plague that wipes out 40% of the population. But the duke will make it a small but recognized European capital. He builds many of the palaces we still admire today, such as the Palazzo Ducale (now the Military Academy), the Palazzina Vigarani in the Ducal Gardens (now the Public Gardens), Villa Pentetorri (destroyed in the bombings of World War II), the Galleria Estense, and the Port, where Corso Vittorio Emanuele II is today. Upon the duke’s death, he will be embalmed and placed in a lead coffin, wearing the Capuchin habit, and placed in the Capuchin church. He will then be moved to the church of San Vincenzo, where he remains today, in the Estense pantheon.
