1609-1659 - The last inhabitants of Palazzo Medici 
- Event:
- The last inhabitants of Palazzo Medici
- Protagonists :
- Don Pietro de’ Medici; Claudia di Ferdinando I de’ Medici; Evangelista Torricelli; Giovanni Bilivert; Lorenzo Cerrini: Zanobi Rosi; Matteo Nigetti; Paolo, Giulio and Antonfrancesco di Don Antonio de’ Medici.
- Epoch, date:
- 1609-1659
- Places:
- Florence
- Description and history :
-
In 1609, on the death of Ferdinando I, an important inventory of Palazzo Medici was drawn up which precisely documents the organisation of the rooms in the palazzo. This is followed by the “List of all that I found in the Palazzo de Medici in Via Larga of V.A.S.” drafted by Rinaldo Bottini “Guardaroba of the said Palazzo” on 14 November 1631, probably in view of the arrival of Claudia, the mother of Vittoria della Rovere. Finally this documentary information is further enriched and clarified through the plans of the Palazzo dating to 1650, nine years before the sale to the Riccardi.
The last illustrious inhabitants of the ancient Medici residence, before the sale to the Riccardi, were relatives of the grand ducal family, officials, intellectuals and artists connected with the nearby San Lorenzo worksite.
The documents and sources record the following persons:
- Don Pietro di Pietro di Cosimo I (1592-1654); the last member of the Medici family who proves to be still living in Palazzo Medici when the inventories of 1609 and 1631 were drawn up.
- Claudia di Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Duchess of Urbino, mother of Vittoria della Rovere and from 1636 mother-in-law of Ferdinando II, who came to Florence when she was left a widow in 1632. Giulio Parigi dealt with the arrangement of the rooms.
- Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647), mathematician and physicist, successor of Galileo at the Medici court, who came to Florence in 1642;
- Giovanni Bilivert (1576-1644), son of the court goldsmith Jacques Bijlevelt; Cosimo II granted a suite of rooms to the young artist on his return from a trip to Rome, before summoning him to the service of the grand ducal gallery in the Uffizi (1611);
- Lorenzo Cerrini (1590-1659), pupil of Cristofano Allori, later master of the wardrobe to Cardinal Giovan Carlo de’ Medici;
- Zanobi Rosi (d. 1633) artist, he too a pupil of Cristofano Allori;
- Matteo Nigetti (1560-1649), who from 1631 lived in a large apartment on the first floor; having become “Architect of the Gallery” on the death of Buontalenti, he had taken over the management of the works on the Chapel of the Princes in San Lorenzo.
- the stonemasons engaged in the worksite of the Chapel of the Princes; from 1605 they had at their disposal half of the garden to the north, separated from the rest by a wall, and three adjacent rooms.
- the sons of Don Antonio de’ Medici, Paolo (1616-1656), Giulio (1617-1670) and Antonfrancesco (1618-1659), who in 1646 together with their servants left the Old House that had been sold to Alamanno Ughi.
In 1659, at the time when Palazzo Medici was sold to the Riccardi, Giulio and Antonfrancesco (Paolo was dead) had to move again, finding hospitality along with the other inhabitants of the Via Larga residence in various rooms in Palazzo Vecchio. The last inhabitants of Palazzo Medici, as well as the sons of Don Antonio, were high-ranking officials, servants of the court, and the widows of personages previously in the service of the grand duke.
informazioni generali - apparati e documentazione