_Via Porta Rossa. No. 20._
The majestic tower of the Monaldi (which has been restored), with part
of the old house attached, stands nearly opposite Palazzo Davanzati.
I cannot do better than tell the history of the family, mentioned by
Dante as among the oldest in Italy, in the words of Piero Monaldi,
whose manuscript history has been kindly lent to me by one of his
descendants. “Our family comes from the Monaldeschi of Orvieto, and
took its origin from the Duke and Baron Monaldo, connected with
the famous house of Anjou, who governed Tuscany for the Emperor
Charlemagne. His descendants were lords of Orvieto and of many other
places in the Tuscan land.... Civil discord between them and the
Filippeschi drove Monaldo and his family to Florence; he settled in
the parish of Porta Rossa, and built a tower of square hewn stone
430 braccie in height. In this spot they had so many houses that the
street was called de’ Monaldi [now Via Monalda]. The houses extended
from the Piazza di Sta. Trinita and Porta Rossa as far as the church
of Sta. Maria Ughi, until in 1346, on the day of S. John the Baptist,
they were nearly destroyed by a very great fire, with the loss of
much property, and of the lives of some of the family, as is related
by Giovanni Villani. They were at once rebuilt, for the said houses
are mentioned in the first _catasto_ of the citizens of Florence as
belonging to the sons of Antonio di Guido, who was an ancestor of mine.
I note that as _Grandi_ of the city we had not much to do with the
government, being in opposition to the people; so that when in 1378 the
mob became masters, our family was admonished and condemned; Lipozzo di
Mangieri, who was then Podestà of Terra Nuova, being exiled together
with his sons. When the recall of the exiles was talked of in 1395, we
were again admonished and banished, and some went to Pisa and became
citizens of that city, where to this day their ancient monuments can
be seen. Buonfiglio Monaldi, a saintly man, one of the seven founders
of the Servite Order, was of our family; his brother Buonconte, a
knight, captain of Arezzo in 1260, was chosen by Cardinal Latino as one
of the guarantors of the universal peace between the Guelphs and the
Ghibellines in 1280. Ugo, knight of the Golden Spur, was captain of
the cavalry of the King of Hungary, and is mentioned by Verino in his
second book, _De Illustratione Urbis Florentie_.
Gloria Folcorum Federicus et Impiger Ugo
Pannoni Regis Turmas ductavit equestres
Pluraque Turcarum caepit Castella Monaldus, etc.
His magnificent tomb in Sta. Maria Novella was destroyed when the
church was enlarged, but the old stone of our vault can still be
seen in the pavement, on which is inscribed: _Hic jacet_ [_sic_]
_Ossa Nobilis Militis Ugonis de Monaldis equitis Florentini et eorum
Descendentium_.
“Piero, my grandfather, was captain under the lord Tommaso de’ Medici.
Alessandro was captain in 1530, and took the city of Volterra.
Another was Archbishop of Rieti, but at present there only remain Fra
Francesco, a Cappucin, and Piero di Giovanni, writer of this notice,
and of this family history. Our arms have a white peacock on a red
field, emblem of the city of Orvieto, from whence we came. Some add a
silver rose, given by the King of England to Giovanni Monaldi.”[49] The
tower of the Monaldi now belongs to Signor Majolfi.