_Via Gino Capponi. No. 29._
Many were the palaces owned by the Capponi family in Florence, now
only two bear their name. One in the Via de’ Bardi belonging to the
Counts Capponi (see p. 71), and this, built by Fontana in 1705 for
the Marquess Alessandro Capponi, the largest private palace in the
city, with a handsome staircase and a fine garden. Here in 1876 died
the Marquess Gino Capponi, one of the makers of United Italy, last of
his branch of the family, regretted by his fellow-citizens, who had a
great admiration for his noble character. His _Storia della Republica
di Firenze_ has a world-wide reputation. The palace now belongs to his
daughter, Marchioness Farinola.
The Capponi family is said to have come from Lucca about 1216, and
gave no less than ten Gonfaloniers and fifty-six Priors to the city of
their adoption, in whose history they played an important part. With
Gino Capponi, born in 1364, began a series of remarkable men. Sent by
the Republic of Florence in 1405 to take possession of the citadel of
Pisa, and of her two outlying fortresses, he accomplished his task,
and left a garrison of hired troops in the citadel. Soon after his
departure the Pisans rose and retook the citadel, to the great dismay
of the Florentines, who had paid a goodly sum to Visconti and his
French ally for the possession of the prize they had long coveted.
When Pisa appealed to Florence, as a sister Republic, to return the
two fortresses, promising to make good all expenses, Gino remarks in
his Commentary, “With these and like phrases they talked in such a
disgusting manner that every man in Florence determined he would go
naked rather than not conquer Pisa.”[25] In March the following year
he and Maso degl’Albizzi were appointed Commissaries of the army
before Pisa, and the famine-stricken city surrendered in October, when
Gino Capponi was named governor. He died in 1451, leaving three sons;
Agostino, from whom descend the branch of the Counts Capponi in Via
de’ Bardi; Lorenzo, whose son of the same name established himself in
trade at Lyons, and for his charity and munificence during the famine
of 1573 was called the father of the poor; and the more famous Neri.
He and Cosimo de’ Medici were the two most powerful men in Florence.
“Neri was the wisest; the other, Cosimo, was the richest,” writes
Cavalcanti. Riches proved to be of more avail, as Neri’s friend and
fellow-soldier, Baldaccio d’Anghiari, was murdered, probably with
the connivance of Cosimo; and his opposition some years later to the
Florentine, or rather Medicean, policy in Lombardy was useless. His
son Piero made a large fortune as a merchant when quite a young man,
and though his family had always belonged to the popular party as
opposed to the Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent entrusted him with many
political missions. In 1494 he sent him as Commissary of the Republic
to the camp of Alfonso of Aragon, who was fighting against the Pope
and the Venetians; the Neapolitan army was in full retreat when the
civilian Capponi placed himself at the head of the troops, rallied
them, and led them to victory. The merchant and the diplomatist showed
that he was a born leader, and when Piero de’ Medici was driven out of
Florence, he was the man to whom her citizens turned. His proud answer
to Charles VII. of France is a matter of history. The King, holding his
ultimatum in his hand, declared that if it was not accepted he would
order his trumpets to sound; whereupon Piero Capponi started forward,
and seizing the paper tore it from top to bottom, exclaiming, “If you
sound your trumpets we will ring our bells.” Those present were aghast,
but Capponi knew Charles wanted money; moreover, Nardi tells us the
French were alarmed, as some days before they had seen what a crowd
of resolute, well-armed men, the ringing of a bell had brought forth.
So the King turned off his threat with a bad joke on Capponi’s name.
When Piero Capponi was killed at the head of his men during the siege
of the little village of Sojana, Guicciardini says that many of the
Florentines, whom he had served so well, openly rejoiced because he was
regarded as the head of the party opposed to Savonarola.
His son Niccolò was chief of the _Ottimati_ party, and Baccio Valori
advised the Cardinal Passerini, who governed the city for Clement VII.,
to arrest him, but he was afraid. After the flight of the Cardinal with
his two wards, Ippolito and Alessandro de’ Medici, Niccolò Capponi
made a long speech in the Great Council, but his prudent advice, a
reconciliation with Clement VII. through the intervention of the
Emperor Charles V., which implied the restoration of the Medici as
citizens of paramount authority, but not as absolute rulers, was not
taken. In 1527 he was elected Gonfalonier of Justice, and according
to Varchi, the citizens were soon divided into several parties. The
_Ottomati_, or richer nobility who followed Capponi, the _Popolani_,
or popular party, some of whom were called _Adirati_, being decidedly
adverse to Capponi, and the more violent section of the latter, the
_Arrabiati_, who advocated the destruction, root and branch, of the
Medici and of their adherents. Niccolò had a difficult part to play
and his extraordinary proposal, after reciting nearly word for word a
sermon of Savonarola’s in the Great Council, to proclaim Jesus Christ
King of Florence was probably, as Varchi suggests, a move to gain the
support of the _Frateschi_, a party of considerable consequence. In
spite of many intrigues he was re-elected Gonfalonier of Justice the
following year, “when it appearing to many, and with reason,” writes
Varchi, “that the authority of the Ten was too great, and therefore
dangerous, fifteen citizens of the greater and five of the lesser
Guilds were added to the Great Council.” They were called the _Arroti
alla Pratica de’ Dieci_, and sat for six months. Hearing that the
Gonfalonier, through Jacopo Salviati, corresponded with the Pope, a law
was enacted, in spite of his protestations that what he did was for
the good of the Republic, that no one, for good or for evil, should
communicate with the Pope. Capponi tendered his resignation, which
was not accepted, and he secretly continued his correspondence with
Rome, which nearly cost him his life. One day in the Council Chamber
he dropped a letter from a friend of Salviati, which was found by a
_Popolano_, a violent antagonist of his, and in a few hours the city
was in an uproar. He was deposed and imprisoned, and Carducci, an
_Arrabiato_ and his personal enemy, named in his stead. At the end
of three days’ imprisonment Niccolò Capponi was brought before the
magistrates, and Varchi describes how he entered the Council Chamber,
“with a black cloak, and his hood thrown back on his shoulders for
greater deference, showing on his usually placid countenance signs
rather of anger than of fear.” His long speech to “the Magnificent
Gonfalonier, the noble Signori, the most honoured magistrates and
citizens, my judges,” is an able piece of special pleading, neither
admitting nor denying his guilt. Varchi declares that the letter,
which contained nothing of very great importance, was not lost by
Capponi at all, but that Francesco Valori dropped it by order of the
Pope, who was tired of Niccolò’s beating about the bush, and wanted to
sow discord in the city, hoping once more to obtain the sovereignty
for his family. Anyhow Capponi was acquitted and must have recovered
some of his old popularity, as in the late autumn he formed part of a
deputation to the Emperor at Genoa to try and soften his heart towards
Florence. Charles was civil, but obdurate; Florence must be reconciled
to the Pope, and open her gates to the Medici. On his way home
Capponi met Michelangelo, who was going to study the fortifications of
Ferrara, who told him what a desperate state Florence was in. Already
ill and over-strained, Niccolò Capponi lay down and died, as the old
chroniclers tell us, of grief and despair, in the small village of
Castelnuovo, in the Garfagnana. His nephew Luigi was the husband of the
beautiful Luisa Strozzi who was poisoned probably by the orders of the
Duke Alessandro de’ Medici.
Piero Capponi’s palace in Florence was on the Lung’Arno Guicciardini.