Story of forgotten black Medici ruler is told in new short film

Daphne Di Cinto's period drama Il Moro focuses on the son of a servant who became the Duke of Florence

When, on a hot day in July 1510, in the halls of a noble Florentine palace, a servant gave birth to a boy, no one ever would have imagined that the child would become Duke of Florence and heir to the Medicis, one of the most powerful Renaissance dynasties. Even more so as the boy was black.

Five-hundred years on, Daphne Di Cinto, the African-Italian actor, writer and director, who appeared in the Netflix TV series Bridgerton as the Duke of Hastings's young mother, is seeking to bring his story back to life and has launched the trailer for her debut short film, Il Moro, a period drama set during Italy's Renaissance and based on the life of Alessandro de' Medici, the first black head of state in modern western Europe.