Researchers hope to solve the mystery of the men's deaths

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.

'Archive of information'

Giorgio Gruppioni, a professor of anthropology from Bologna who is in charge of the project, said modern biomolecular technology and scanning might clear up doubts that have persisted for centuries.

The exhumations will be the subject of a TV documentary

"With today's technology, we can clear up various doubts that have been passed down for centuries and we can provide answers that could not been discovered years ago."

Mr Gruppioni said analysis using the latest technology would also be able to establish what the two men looked like.

"We have already noticed that the structure of Pico's skeleton shows he had quite a robust figure, whereas most paintings show a more slender, feminine stature," he said.