_Via de’ Benci. No. 20._
Nearly all the palaces on the eastern side of Via de’ Benci once
belonged to the Alberti and the street was called after them, until the
Benci crossed the Arno and established themselves here, when it became
Via de’ Benci. This palace was bought from Francesco degl’Alberti
in 1456 by Duccio Mellini, whose family were rich bankers and great
patrons of the arts. The fine pulpit in Sta. Croce by Benedetto
da Majano was erected by them. Michelangelo has been named as the
architect of the characteristic and elegant palace, but it bears no
resemblance to his handiwork, and evidently dates from the middle of
the XVIth century. It is one of the few which still preserves, though
in a sad state of ruin, a frescoed façade, painted by Stalf, a Flemish
artist, after the designs of Francesco Salviati. The Mellini sold it in
1634, since when it has changed hands often, and now belongs to Signor
Fossi.
[Illustration: DOORWAY OF PALAZZO FRESCOBALDI.]
PALAZZO FRESCOBALDI
_Piazza de’ Frescobaldi. No. 1._
Many were the houses belonging to the great family of Frescobaldi
in the Borgo S. Jacopo and in the Via S. Spirito, besides the great
palace in the Piazza de’ Frescobaldi. Opposite to the latter stood one
of their towers and their loggia, of which a capital remains built
into the wall of a small house. Another tower was near the church of
S. Jacopo. The old palace in the Piazza in which Pope Gregory lodged
in 1272 was burnt during the popular rising in 1343, but was rebuilt
with greater magnificence. Afterwards it became a monastery, but when
Florence became the capital the monks gave place to the Admiralty. It
is now a communal school, and the fine façade is fast falling to pieces.
According to Verino, the Frescobaldi came originally from Germany.
They were lords of several castles in the Val di Pesa in very early
times, and their name appears among the first Consuls and Elders of
Florence. One of them, Messer Lamberto di Fresco di Baldo, built the
first bridge (of wood) of Sta. Trinita across the Arno in 1252. His
sons Lapo and Neri fought at the battle of Montaperti on the side of
the Guelphs, and their cousin Berto rode by the side of King Charles of
Anjou and bore his banner at the famous battle of Campaldino in 1282.
Three years later Ghino de’ Frescobaldi was created a Prior, but the
power, military fame and riches, of the family aroused the jealousy of
the popular party. As _Grandi_ they were declared incapable of holding
any office, which they bitterly resented; and were driven to fury by
the exile of Teglia de’ Frescobaldi, who had led the Florentine army
to victory in 1303, and was too popular with his soldiers to please
a republican government. Swearing to be revenged, he took service
with Castruccio Castrocane, Lord of Lucca, and attempted to seize
Montelupo and Capraja, while some of his relatives conspired to open
the gates of Florence to her enemy. All those who were implicated in
the plot were banished, and the cruelty and injustice of the newly
created magistrate, “the Preserver of Peace,” drove the _Grandi_ to
desperation, and ended in the revolt of the great Oltrarno families,
so graphically described by Villani (see p. 40). For some hours the
Frescobaldi defended their Piazza and palaces, but were at last forced
to capitulate. Their houses and towers were destroyed, and those
members of the family who were not beheaded or imprisoned, were
banished.
There must also be mentioned the poet Dino de’ Frescobaldi, called by
Boccaccio “famosissimo dicitore in rima in Firenze.” The world owes
him a vast debt of gratitude, for he contrived to save the first seven
cantos of the _Inferno_, when all that belonged to his friend Dante was
confiscated, and sent them after him to the Marchese Malaspina’s castle
in the Lunigiana. Matteo, Dino’s son, was also a poet, and Lionardo,
whose interesting account of his travels in Egypt and the Holy Land in
1383 has been published, was, it is believed, a descendant of his.
Battista de’ Frescobaldi conspired against Lorenzo the Magnificent and
was beheaded, and his brother Giuliano died by the side of Ferruccio
Ferrucci in the battle of Gavinana. Bartolomeo was so ardent a
republican that he withdrew from the world when the Medici attained
to power, but his descendant Matteo was made a Senator in 1645. The
present representative of the Frescobaldi lives in one of the old
family palaces in Via S. Spirito.