Medici writers exhumed in Italy

The bodies of two famous Italian literary figures from the 15th Century have been exhumed from St Mark's Basilica in Florence.

Scientists want to learn more about their lives and find out what caused their deaths. Pico della Mirandola, a humanist philosopher, and the scholar and poet Angelo Ambrosini, known as Poliziano, both died in Florence in 1494.

They belonged to the court of the powerful Medici family.

Pico della Mirandola is believed to have been poisoned, but this has never been confirmed.

Now, DNA analysis of his bones could establish beyond doubt whether this story is true or not.

Poliziano - who was believed to have been one of Pico della Mirandola's lovers - is also a possible poison victim. But another theory is that he died from syphilis, which killed thousands of people all over Europe in an outbreak at the end of the 15th Century.
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(Imagens: Pico della Mirandola, à esquerda; Angelo Ambrosini, conhecido por Poliziano, à direita).