_Borgo degl’Albizzi. No. 26._
This palace, built by Ammannati for the great family of the Pazzi,
whose dolphins are still above the doorway, is one of the literary
landmarks of Florence. In the beginning of the XVIIIth century it was
the fashion for the _beaux esprits_ of the town to meet together at
a chemist’s or a bookseller’s shop, or now and then at each other’s
houses. Giovanni Pazzi, a studious, cultured man, was generally to be
found in his library at the very top of his palace, in what remained of
one of the ancient towers of his family. Here his friends would meet
in the evening and they jokingly called his abode la Colombaia (the
dovecot) from its height, and himself il Torraiolo (the tower pigeon).
A society was formed in May, 1735, and each member chose a nickname
which had some reference to a pigeon; their emblem was a tower with the
motto from Dante, _Quanto veder si puo_, and their seal an old intaglio
representing two doves feeding each other, to which was added the
words, _Mutius Officiis. S. C._ The Società Colombaia still meets and
reads learned papers in Via de’ Bardi.