_Via Maggio. No. 13._
From Rodolfo, son of a certain Diotifece who lived at Poppiano in
the Val di Pesa in the XIIIth century, descend the three families of
Ridolfi whose name occurs so frequently in the annals of Florence. The
Ridolfi del Ponte, whose old tower still stands grey and grim opposite
to that of the Mannelli in the Via de’ Bardi; the Ridolfi di Piazza,
whose houses were clustered round the church of S. Felice (Borgo di
Piazza was one of the three borghi, or parishes, of the Oltrarno); and
the Ridolfi di Borgo, who had their houses in the Borgo S. Jacopo. In
1378 the Ridolfi, being Ghibellines, were expelled the city, and their
houses were sacked and burnt; but three years later they returned to
Florence and made a large fortune as wool merchants. Lorenzo Ridolfi,
born in 1362, was a remarkable man. A great jurist, he expounded
canon law at the Studio Fiorentino, attended to business in his shop
in the Via Maggio, was Pro-consul of the Guild of Wool, four times
Gonfalonier of Justice, and was sent (whenever a knotty question arose)
as ambassador of the Republic to popes and foreign sovereigns. He had
four sons, Bernardo, Luigi, Antonio and Giovanni, from the second of
whom descend the present representatives of the family. They were all
Gonfaloniers of Justice, and friends of the Medici; indeed, so devoted
was Antonio, that when Lorenzo the Magnificent was stabbed in the
cathedral on the occasion of the conspiracy of the Pazzi he sucked the
wound, fearing the dagger might have been poisoned. One of Lorenzo
Ridolfi’s grandsons, Giovan Battista, was a gallant soldier, who fought
against Bentivoglio and took him prisoner at Faenza. He was elected
Gonfalonier of Justice for life after Piero Soderini, and opposed the
return of the exiled Piero de’ Medici, whilst another, Niccolò, lost
his head in 1497 for conspiring with Bernardo del Nero for his recall.
Niccolò bought the palace in the Via Maggio, which still belongs to
the Ridolfi, from the powerful family of the Corbinelli. The architect
is unknown, but it is evidently of the XIVth century, with its large
windows and fine doorway. The _graffite_ on the façade are of course of
a later date. All Niccolò’s possessions were confiscated when he was
beheaded. But on the return of the Medici to power the estates were
given back to his son Piero, husband of Contessina, daughter of Lorenzo
the Magnificent, whilst the youngest, Niccolò, was made a Cardinal at
twelve years of age, and became Archbishop of Florence at nineteen. He
lived chiefly at Orvieto, where he kept up a princely establishment,
and being intensely hostile to the Duke Alessandro de’ Medici, his
house was the refuge of all the Florentine exiles. During the conclave
of 1550 he died; poisoned, it was said, by the orders of Cosimo I., who
feared he might be elected Pope.
Roberto Ridolfi, head of the banking-house in London, allowed his
religious zeal to get the better of his discretion. He conspired in
favour of Mary Queen of Scots, and was imprisoned in the Tower of
London, but contrived to escape and took refuge in Rome.
Attached to the Ridolfi palace is another of the XVIth century, which
was built on the site of two houses also belonging to the Corbinelli.
Bought by the Sangaletti in 1583, they were soon afterwards sold to
the Zanchini Da Castiglionichio, who threw them into one, employing,
it is said, Santi di Tito as their architect. The courtyard is of pure
XVth century design, and was probably incorporated with the new palace
by the Zanchini, whose arms are still to be seen on the corner of the
palace. Marchese Cosimo Ridolfi bought it in 1843, and added it to his
own.
In the façade of a house nearly opposite the side entrance to the
Boboli gardens in Via Romana is a bas-relief of S. Peter the Apostle
seated; at either end are the old arms of the Ridolfi, and between is
the inscription _Hospitium Nobilis Ridolforum Familiae_. This is all
that remains of a hospital, which, according to the custom of those
days when every great family had its own small hospital, Piero Ridolfi
intended to build. He bought a house from the Calvacanti, but died in
1349 before he could carry out his intention. So his nephew Antonio
built the hospital, and various members of the family left considerable
sums for its maintenance. It was suppressed in 1751, and its funds
given to the Bigallo.