Assassin's Creed II is primarily set at its beginning in 1476. The game opens in Renaissance Florence, where Ezio Auditore is a teenager before his family is drawn into a deadly conspiracy.
The story then advances through several decades of Ezio's life and visits major Italian locations including Florence, Monteriggioni, Venice, and Forlì. Its historical period includes the late 15th century, when powerful families, city-states, bankers, and political alliances shaped Italy.
The date is sometimes confused with Ezio's birth year, which is 1459. It is also distinct from the dates of later downloadable sequences and the game's broader ending. Assassin's Creed II uses historical people such as Leonardo da Vinci, Lorenzo de' Medici, and Rodrigo Borgia alongside its fictional Assassin plot.