_Piazza della Signoria. No. 6._
The Uguccione are a branch of the old family of Lippi-Scalandroni,
and took their name from Bernardo di Uguccione, who was the first of
eleven Priors of his house in 1434. They lived in the quarter of S.
Spirito until 1500, when Buonaccorso Uguccione bought from Taddeo
dell’Antella and his brothers a house in the Val del Garbo (now
Condotta), with an entrance also on the Piazza della Signoria. After
his death his son Giovanni purchased some adjoining houses and built
the beautiful little palace which has been variously attributed to
Raphael, Palladio, and Michelangelo. Raphael is out of the question,
as he died thirty years before Giovanni thought of building his house.
Cinelli declares that “the façade of the house of the Uguccione is by
Michelangelo and very beautiful. The cornice is wanting, which was to
have crowned it, and to have rested upon plain but fine corbels; their
very plainness would have given an uncommon majesty and grandeur, as
can be seen by the model which is in his house.”[101] This model was
constructed by Mariotto Folfi, surnamed l’Ammogliato, from a design
which Uguccione obtained from Rome, and is mentioned in a letter from
the Commissary “delle Bande” to Cosimo I., which proves how the Duke
occupied himself with the small details of the affairs of his subjects.
“Giovanni Uguccione has just left me in great anger about a drawing
for a building which he got from Rome, and which must be, as far as
I can gather, a very splendid thing. He gave it to Ceccho Allori, a
master-mason, to make an estimate of his part of the work with strict
injunctions not to show it to any one. The mason promised to return
it in two or three days, but now declares that he has lost it, which
is an evident falsehood. Giovanni wanted to appeal at once to the
court of the ‘Otto,’ but I persuaded him to wait a few days and again
try to obtain possession of the drawing by amicable means. This I did
because I wished to refer to Your Highness, and also because the said
court usually only inflicts a fine for the loss of manuscripts, etc.,
if not returned within so many days, which avails but little against
scoundrels, and lastly because I understand that the architect has no
time to make another design.” The Duke, who was extremely eager to
beautify the city, wrote on the margin of the letter, “Let the court
send for him and insist on his finding it.” The drawing was eventually
returned to Uguccione, and Folfi, as I have already said, made the
model and superintended the building. Signor Iodici Del Badia thinks
he probably designed the fine coats-of-arms, emblems, and internal
decorations of the palace.[102] In a manuscript record belonging to the
family, Giovanni Uguccione is described as “living in great splendour,
and being one of the noblest, richest and wisest citizens of that time.
He was a merchant, but kept no shop. When he rode out his horse was
splendidly caparisoned, a sign of magnificence, as at that time there
were no carriages.”
Uguccione evidently knew that he could rely on the interest the Duke
took in his beautiful house, for he encroached on the rights of his
neighbours on either side in a most high-handed manner. They went to
law, but only obtained a small pecuniary award for the loss of their
_sedilia_ and their light. When the palace was completed early in 1559
Giovanni begged to be allowed to occupy part of the Piazza by putting
steps outside his door “according to the design, and to give greater
beauty to the house.” The permission must have been granted, as in
a drawing of the façade by the younger Vasari in the Uffizi, there
are five steps leading up to the front door. These have gradually
disappeared owing to the rise in the level of the Piazza. Giovanni
Uguccione died in December, 1559, leaving the house to his widow
Nannina, daughter of Palla Rucellai, and afterwards to his nephews.
Nannina’s arms and emblems, the sail and the ring with three feathers,
are sculptured together with his own in the entrance hall and in one
of the ground-floor rooms. Pope Benedict XIV. bestowed the title of
Marquess on Benedetto Uguccione in 1749, and the palace still belongs
to his descendants.