_Via de’ Bardi. Nos. 22, 24._
This palace consists of two separate houses; the one adjoining the
church of Sta. Lucia was a hospice for pilgrims in 1283, and tradition
says that S. Francis of Assisi and S. Dominick met here; history,
however, affirms that the saints were never together in Florence. More
interesting is the connection of both church and palace with Dante,
who is said to have often dined with the brethren of the Ospizio de’
Pelegrini after hearing mass in Sta. Lucia on Sundays and holidays. The
other palace, with a most picturesque staircase and a fine well-head,
belonged to a branch of the Bardi family who assumed the name of
Ilarione, or Larione. They became bankrupt, and it was sold to Giovanni
Canigiani in 1465; and here the mother of Petrarch, Eletta Canigiani,
is said to have been born. The hospice had degenerated into two small
houses, which also belonged to the Larione, and were sold at the same
time to another of the Canigiani. They were afterwards rebuilt and made
into one house.
[Illustration: COURTYARD OF PALAZZO CANIGIANI.]
The tradition is that the Canigiani left Fiesole when the town was
destroyed, and settled in Florence, where they became one of the great
Guelph families; their ancient houses, towers and loggia, were in the
Via de’ Bardi, near the Ponte Vecchio. After the defeat of their party
at Montaperti in 1260, they took refuge in Lucca, until the Guelphs
regained their supremacy in Florence, when twelve of the family became
Gonfaloniers of Justice, and fifty-five were Priors. Messer Piero
Canigiani is mentioned in the _Decameron_ as being Chancellor to the
Empress of Constantinople, and on his return to Italy he filled many
important posts. With the exception of Bernardo, who joined Filippo
Strozzi and was hanged, the Canigiani were devoted adherents of the
Medici. Cosimo I. created a cousin and namesake of Bernardo’s, one of
the founders of the Academia della Crusca, a Senator, and Alessandro
Canigiani was made Archbishop of Aix through the influence of Queen
Catherine de’ Medici. The family became extinct in 1813, when the
Giugni succeeded to the name and estates, and to the fine palaces.
On the wall opposite to the Canigiani palace is an inscription
recording the landslip in Via de’ Bardi, in which Bernardo Buontalenti
nearly lost his life. Twice before the hill had slipped, in 1284 and
in 1490, overwhelming the houses built on the slope of the hill of S.
Giorgio. In a manuscript in the Magliabecchiana library is an account
of what happened on the 12th November, 1547, written probably by one of
the Nasi family; perhaps by Lorenzo Nasi, for whom Raphael painted the
Madonna del Cardellino, now in the Uffizi. The picture is said to have
been dug out from under the ruins of his house.
“I will tell how my house fell, and how we were saved. I rose early as
is my wont, and went into my study. Many years before I had noticed
that the house had somewhat suffered on the side against the hill, but
never did I imagine that there was any danger of its falling. A man
from Campiglio was staying with me, and being ill with fever he could
not sleep. All night long he heard ceilings cracking and bits of mortar
falling, so he rose at daybreak, and seeing certain fissures in the
walls, dressed as well as he could and came to warn me. I, believing
that these were old cracks, paid small attention to him, and continued
my writing. But he being alarmed, left the house. Soon afterwards I
heard a great noise, and felt the house tremble, and I left my room to
find out the cause of the noise, when my people told me that a large
stone pilaster at the foot of the stairs was broken, which alarmed me.
Whilst I was thinking what was to be done, and whether we ought to
leave the house, I felt a very great shaking, and saw cracks opening in
the window-sills, doorways and walls. So with great fear I thought only
of saving our lives, and began to shout aloud that every one was to fly
with me. Seizing one child in my arms, taking another by the hand, and
giving others to my people, shouting and calling I ran to the stairs.
Some had already given way, and mortar was falling on all sides. In yet
greater terror I rushed down the stairs and out of the house, and took
refuge in Sta. Lucia. By my side and behind me ran others, and the last
one to come was my wife. I being on the steps of Sta. Lucia, and she
still in the street, I caught her by the arm and helped her to mount
the steps of the church. Hardly was she safe inside when our house
fell all at once with such impetus against the façade of the Canigiani
palace and of Sta. Lucia, that I thought the church and all the houses
by the river would have been knocked down. No bit of wall higher than
one foot remained standing; the vaults gave way, and the houses were
ruined to their foundations. Two horses were buried under our house,
and all our clothes, linen, and furniture, of every description. It was
only by the especial grace of God that of the seventeen persons in our
house none were lost. Had we lingered long enough to say a _credo_, or
had Sta. Lucia been shut, we should all have been killed.”
Only three persons lost their lives in this catastrophe, a fourth, a
boy of eleven, was saved by a beam falling against the wall, under
which he remained unhurt. Baldinucci tells us that “while the child
was crying for help under the ruins, and people were throwing bread
and other food down an aperture, in order to keep him alive while they
tried to remove a huge mass of stones, bricks and wood, a servant of
the Duke Cosimo passed by. Horrified at what he saw, he went to the
palace immediately and told his master. The Duke ordered that every
effort should be made to liberate the wretched boy, and when he was
free he took him into his palace, and ever after protected and aided
him.” The boy grew up, and became that excellent and universal genius
Bernardo Buontalenti.