1349-1451 - History of the "old house" of the Medici, I 
- Event:
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History of the "old house" of the Medici, I
- Protagonists :
- Medici
- Epoch, date:
- 1349-1451
- Places:
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Florence, Via Larga (now Via Cavour)
- Description and history :
-
In 1349 Giovanni and Filigno de’ Medici, belonging to the branch of Averardo, bought nine twentieths of a "palagio" in Via Larga. In 1356 they purchased a house adjacent to the same building, facing southwards. They added to these properties the other eleven twentieths of the "palagio" in 1361. On 15 March 1375 Filigno di Conte made a gift of the "palazzetto" to his nephew. Dwelling in the "house next door" at the time was Monna Jacopa, daughter of Filippo Spini, widow of Averardo de’ Medici known as Bicci and mother of Giovanni di Bicci. In 1404 the "palagio", possibly along with the adjacent house, was handed over to the grandsons of Jacopa and Averardo, Cosimo and Lorenzo, even though the reason for this assignment is not known.
In the tax declaration of 1427 Giovanni di Bicci proves to be the owner of the "palagio" and the two adjacent houses, that previously belonging to Monna Jacopa situated towards Piazza San Giovanni, at present rented to Maestro Antonio della Scarperia, and a "house with another little house attached" set on the opposite side towards Piazza San Marco. Giovanni purchased these last two properties situated on Via Larga to the north from the Tantini family, which had fallen on hard times in the interim, and is now renting them to a distant relative Giovanni di Ghuccio de’ Medici. The tax return of 1430 indicates the sons of Giovanni di Bicci, Cosimo and Lorenzo as living in the "palagio", while the houses to the sides are still being rented. In the return of 1433, instead, they declare that the houses and the "palagio" are "belonging to our own use" and no tenants are therefore indicated. The next mention of the real estate possessions of the two brothers appears in the return of 1446, where we read that the house towards San Giovanni and the house towards San Marco – although without the adjacent little house – were joined to the "palagio" through a renovation operation. Hence, by 1446, the residence of Cosimo and Lorenzo, the sons of Giovanni di Bicci had been built. It was later to become known as the "old house" when Cosimo moved to the new palazzo, built by Michelozzo, just a few steps away on Via Larga, on the corner with Via de’ Gori. In March 1445 the new mansion was already under construction.
The transformation of the three fourteenth-century houses must have taken place before the death of Lorenzo di Giovanni, brother of Cosimo il Vecchio, which took place in 1440. In fact, in the inventory compiled on 13 December, after this event, there is mention of "una domus habitationis pro habitationem dicti Cosmi et dicti olim Laurentii cum una alia domus contigua et iuxta predicta": the two houses to the sides of the fourteenth-century palazzo are not mentioned at all in the inventory of 1440, since they had clearly been incorporated during the renovation of the complex. Consequently the dwelling which up to then had been the property of Cosimo and Lorenzo comprised the house towards San Giovanni, the "palagio" and the house towards San Marco, but not the little house adjacent to the latter which remained independent, inhabited in 1427 by Giovanni di Ghuccio de’ Medici and afterwards by Maestro Mariotto. The unification of the two houses with the fourteenth-century "palagio" must have taken place between 1427 (the date of the aforementioned tax return) and 1432, the year in which Cosimo and Lorenzo commissioned the creation of a large garden, enclosed by a high wall, to the rear of their houses, which had evidently already been transformed. It also seems plausible to suppose that this transformation took place after the death of their father Giovanni di Bicci in 1429.
In the division of property drawn up in 1451 by Cosimo il Vecchio and his nephew Pierfrancesco, son of Lorenzo, the old house of the family was assigned to the latter, albeit with a clause which required the property to remain temporarily a communal asset for six years. This condition was undoubtedly due to the fact that the construction of Cosimo’s new palazzo, situated just a few yards away, was not yet complete.
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