Albizzi family
Patrician noble family
Country Republic of Florence
Duchy of Florence
Grand Duchy of Tuscany
 Kingdom of Italy
EtymologyFrom the Old German "Albiz" meaning "swan" (currently in german "schwan")
FoundedBefore year 1000 from a german knight of the suite of Otto III's (crowned emperor by 996 in Rome)
FounderRaimondino of Arezzo
Current headNone; extinct by early 20th c. with Leonia degli Albizzi
Final headVittorio degli Albizzi
Titles
Members
Connected families
Dissolution1877 (1877)
Cadet branches
List

The Albizzi family (Italian pronunciation: [ˈalbittsi]) was a Florentine family originally based in Arezzo, who were rivals of the Medici and Alberti families. They were at the centre of Florentine oligarchy from 1382, in the reaction that followed the Ciompi revolt, to the rise of the Medici in 1434.[1] They were active members of the Arte della Lana, Florence's wool guild.[2] The Guilds played a central role in the governance of the Republic of Florence during the medieval period and guild members constituted Florence's political and economic oligarchy.[3]

The most famous and influential members of the family were Maso and his son Rinaldo degli Albizzi (1370–1442) who countered the rise of Cosimo de' Medici, exiling him in 1433.[4] Luca, another son of Maso, was head of the Florentine galleys; his diary is an important source for historians.[5] Luca was a loyal friend to Cosimo de' Medici. As a result, Luca was permitted to stay in Florence when the rest of his clan, including his brother, were exiled under the Medici regime in 1434. Moreover, in 1442, Luca Albizzi actually became the Gonfaloniere of Justice and stayed a key ally of Cosimo during this time.

Giovanna degli Albizzi was the wife of Lorenzo Tornabuoni. Both were prominent art patrons in Florence during the late 15th century.[6] A portrait of Giovanna was painted in 1488.

The family palazzo in Borgo degli Albizzi was rebuilt with the return of the family in the early 16th century.

From 1565–1567, Eleonora degli Albizzi was a mistress of the Grand-Duke Cosimo I de Medici.

Filippo degli Albizzi was a Florentine naturalist from the 18th century on behalf of whom Albizia julibrissin was named.

Notes

  1. ^ A. Rado, Dalla republica fiorentina alla signoria Medicea: Maso degli Albizzi e il partito oligarchico in Firenze dal 1382 al 1393, 1926
  2. ^ Magni, Isabella (2021). "Editing the Albi[z]zi Memorial Book". In Arduini, Beatrice; Magni, Isabella; Todorovic, Jelena (eds.). Interpretation and Visual Poetics in Medieval and Early Modern Texts: Essays in Honor of H. Wayne Storey. Brill. p. 123. ISBN 978-9-004-46177-2.
  3. ^ Brucker, Gene A. (1998). Florence: The Golden Age 1138-1737. University of California Press. pp. 116–121. ISBN 978-0-520-21522-1.
  4. ^ Baker, Nicholas Scott (2020). Florence in the Early Modern World : New Perspectives. ProQuest Ebook Central: Routledge. pp. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon. ISBN 978-1-138-31330-9.
  5. ^ Michael E. Mallett, The Florentine Galleys in the Fifteenth Century: with the diary of Luca di Maso degli Albizzi, Captain of the Galleys, 1429–1430 (Oxford University Press) 1967.
  6. ^ Sman, Gert Jan van der (2010). Lorenzo and Giovanna: Timeless Art and Fleeting Lives in Renaissance Florence. Leiden: Primavera Pers. ISBN 9788874611287.



Categories