| Pazzi | |
|---|---|
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| Current region | Tuscany |
| Place of origin | Republic of Florence |
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ThePazzi were a powerful family in theRepublic of Florence. Their main trade during the fifteenth century was banking. In the aftermath of thePazzi conspiracy in 1478, members of the family were banished from Florence and their property was confiscated; the family name andcoat-of-arms were permanently suppressed by order of theSignoria.
The traditional story is that the family was founded by Pazzo di Ranieri, first man over the walls during theSiege of Jerusalem of 1099, during theFirst Crusade, who returned to Florence withflints supposedly from theHoly Sepulchre, which were kept atSanti Apostoli and used onHoly Saturday to re-kindle fire in the city.[1][2]: 131 The historical basis of this legend has been in question since the work ofLuigi Passerini Orsini de' Rilli [it] in the mid-nineteenth century.[1]
The first apparently historical figure in the family is theJacopo de' Pazzi il Vecchio [it] who was a captain of the Florentine (Guelph) cavalry at thebattle of Montaperti on 4 September 1260, and whose hand was treacherously severed byBocca degli Abati [it], causing thestandard to fall.[3] His sonPazzino di Jacopo de' Pazzi [it] was aBlack Guelph and a follower ofCharles de Valois.[3]
Andrea di Guglielmo de' Pazzi (1372–1445) was a banker and merchant. In 1429 he commissioned construction of thePazzi Chapel in theFranciscan church ofSanta Croce in Florence.[4] His sonJacopo de' Pazzi became head of the family in 1464.[2]: 131
Guglielmo di Antonio de' Pazzi marriedBianca de' Medici, sister ofLorenzo de' Medici, in 1460;[3]Cosimo de' Pazzi [it], the sixth of their sixteen children, becamearchbishop of Florence in 1508.[5]
Francesco de' Pazzi was one of the instigators of thePazzi conspiracy in 1477–78. He, Jacopo de' Pazzi and Jacopo's brother Renato de' Pazzi were executed after the plot failed.[2]: 141
Raffaele de' Pazzi [it] was acondottiere; he died at theBattle of Ravenna in 1512.[6]
Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi (1566–1607) was aCarmelite nun andmystic;[7]: 218 she wascanonised in 1669.[8]: 149
Early in 1477,Francesco de' Pazzi, manager in Rome of the Pazzi bank, plotted withGirolamo Riario, nephew andprotégé of the pope,Sixtus IV, and withFrancesco Salviati, whom Sixtus had made archbishop ofPisa, to assassinateLorenzo de' Medici and his brotherGiuliano to oust theMedici family as rulers of Florence.[2]: 131 Sixtus gave tacit support to the conspirators.[9]: 254 The assassination attempt was made during mass in theFlorence Cathedral on 26 April 1478. Giuliano was killed; Lorenzo was wounded, but escaped.[9]: 254–255 Salviati, with mercenaries fromPerugia, failed in his attempt to take over thePalazzo della Signoria.[2]: 138 Most of the conspirators were soon caught and summarily executed; five, including Francesco de' Pazzi, were hanged from the windows of the Palazzo della Signoria.[2]: 140 Jacopo de' Pazzi, head of the family, escaped from Florence, but was caught and brought back. He was tortured, then hanged from the Palazzo della Signoria next to the decomposing corpse of Salviati. He was buried atSanta Croce, but the body was dug up and thrown into a ditch. It was then dragged through the streets and propped up at the door of Palazzo Pazzi, where the rotting head was mockingly used as a door-knocker. From there it was thrown into theArno; children fished it out and hung it from a willow tree, flogged it, and then threw it back into the river.[2]: 141
The Pazzi were banished from Florence, and their lands and property confiscated. Guglielmo de' Pazzi, husband of Lorenzo's sister Bianca, was placed under house arrest,[2]: 141 and later forbidden to enter the city; he went to live at Torre a Decima, nearPontassieve.[5] The family name andcoat-of-arms were perpetually suppressed by decree of theSignoria. The name was erased from public registers, and all buildings and streets carrying it were renamed. Their shield with its dolphins was obliterated.[2]: 142 Anyone named Pazzi had to take a new name;[9]: 256 any man married to a Pazzi was barred from public office.[2]: 142 Customs and traditions of the family were suppressed, among them the Easter Saturday ritual involving the flint from Jerusalem.[2]: 142
After the overthrow ofPiero de' Medici in 1494, members of the Pazzi family were able to return to Florence.[5]
ThePazzi Chapel in the Franciscan church ofSanta Croce in Florence was commissioned by Andrea di Guglielmo de' Pazzi in 1429.[4] It was designed byFilippo Brunelleschi.[10][a] Construction began in 1442 in a cloister of the church, and continued after the death of thepatron in 1445 and the architect in 1446; work was interrupted by the Pazzi plot and the chapel was never completed.[11]: 107 [4]
Palazzo Pazzi or Palazzo Pazzi-Quaratesi was the main seat of the family in the "Canto dei Pazzi", at the intersection ofBorgo degli Albizi [it] andvia del Proconsolo [it]. It was commissioned by Jacopo de' Pazzi, and built circa 1462–1472 to designs byGiuliano da Maiano. Above its traditionally rusticated ground floor of yellow-ochresandstone, it had a then-novelstuccoed first and second floor, with delicate designs in the windows influenced byBrunelleschi. The central court is surrounded on three sides by round-headed arcading, with circularbosses in thespandrels.[citation needed]
Palazzo Pazzi Ammannati [it] (or Palazzo Pazzi dell'Accademia Colombaria) is a smaller palace in the Borgo degli Albizi, between Palazzo Ramirez de Montalvo and thePalazzo Nonfinito. It houses a section of theMuseum of Natural History of Florence, and hosts temporary exhibitions. Thefaçade is attributed toBartolomeo Ammannati.[citation needed]
