News Telegraph: Researchers are planning to exhume and test the bodies of 50 members of the Medici Family with hopes of some "sensational surprises." The Medicis, first family of Florence during the Renaissance, had a reputation for both art patronage and ruthlessness. Now a new study will use DNA testing to look at the lifestyle of the famous family. Some of the testing will be done in place, while more extensive tests will be carried out at the University of Pisa.

"By exhuming these illustrious corpses we will discover what illnesses they had, how they lived and how they died," said Licia Bertani, in charge of the Medici Chapels in Florence. "For example, there is supposed to have been gout in the family. But it might have been deforming arthritis instead."

Scientists hope to trace family relations and reconstruct the appearance of certain individuals. Current members of the Medici family are supportive of the study.

To read the complete story, click on the header above.