Highlights from the Mediceo del Principato

Tiziano, Venus of Urbino (1538)
Alessio Assonitis
October 4, 2007

The study of history would suggest that while human nature remains fairly constant, attitudes, customs, and institutions change continuously. This certainly rings true in the case of ‘Signora Saltarella’, a leading courtesan in mid-sixteenth-century Florence and Rome.

Mike Samuda
September 20, 2007

Piera da Menabbio, testifies under oath concerning her employment as a servant for a Jewish banker in Pescia

Elena Brizio
September 6, 2007

Letter sent by Onofrio Camaini, the Sienese Chief of Justice to Duke Cosimo I de Medici on April 6, 1559:

[] The trial of Terenzio Usinini of Siena, who was arrested for the attempted rape of the Widow of Belforte, is almost over [] The result of the trial is that he will be given the death sentence for having attempted to commit rape and for committing an armed assault which drew blood from the aforementioned widow. Despite the fact that his attempt was unsuccessful he will be executed [] for it cannot be denied that this case is both horrible and shocking given the widow’s reputation as a virtuous woman and the fact that he broke into her home at night through a window. The accused has a very bad reputation which emerged during the testimony heard at the trial. [] On the night of the attempted rape, Terenzio was accompanied by a certain Santi di Lelo, a priest from Belforte, who, a few months earlier, had been seen throttling a local townsman because of some business involving the man’s wife who was apparently having an affair. Terenzio, along with the priest is believed to have murdered the poor man []

Mike Samuda
July 26, 2007

A letter written from Rome on 5 June 1540 by Rosso di Filippo de Medici (also kown as 'The Best') to his distant relative Cosimo I

You should know that Pavoncino has finally returned and has marvellous stories from France, Flanders and Spain about the manner with which he was treated by the kings and nobles of these countries [] The siege in Perugia is still in effect [] The heat wave arrived on May 20 and on June 1st; this forced me to remove my boots and put away my winter jacket [] I am enjoying the fresco with my wife and we are giving each other disembowelling kisses; her mouth is so overwhelming that I seriously think that a tarantula has bitten her underneath the bellybutton. [] The city has been invaded by grasshoppers, flies, horseflies, and snakes. Mosquitoes have devastated the harvest, have fallen into drinks and are floating in soups. They left only after Pope Paul III had excommunicated them all.