_Via Ghibellina. No. 110._
This palace is chiefly interesting because part of it (corner of Via
de’ Giraldi and Via de’ Pandolfini) was built where once stood the
house of Giovanni and Matteo Villani. The Salviati bought it with some
others, and Silvani erected for them a large palace, which afterwards
became the property of Prince Camillo Borghese. He purchased many
adjoining houses, and enlarged it in 1823, when he must have spent a
fortune on the magnificent internal decorations. It now belongs to the
Borghese Club.
The family of the Villani came from Borgo S. Lorenzo in the XIIIth
century, and took their name from Villano, son of Stoldo. Giovanni, the
famous chronicler, was the eldest son of Villano, and superintended
the building of the campanile of the Badia of Florence and of the
doors of S. Giovanni. He was also Master of the Mint, and sat several
times as Prior in the Palazzo de’ Signori. In 1325 he fought at
Altopascio, and soon afterwards was imprisoned for debt as a partner
of the Buonaccorsi, whose bank was ruined by the failure of the Bardi.
His delightful _Cronica_, picturesque, pure and elegant in style,
and wonderfully impartial, has been a mine of wealth to all students
of the history of old Florence. It was continued, after he died of
the plague in 1348, by his brother Matteo, until he fell a victim to
the same malady in 1363. Matteo’s eldest son Filippo added forty-two
chapters to the chronicle, but of very inferior interest, bringing it
down to 1365. He was also the author of a commentary on Dante, and of
_Philippi solitarii de origine civitatis Florentiæ, et ejusdem famosis
civibus_, which remained in manuscript until 1747, when the second
part, containing the lives of various famous persons, was published. He
died in 1404, and the last descendant of his brother Giovanni in 1617.