TRANSLATION:
Most Serene Lady and Most Revered Patroness, […] Your Highness should not consider me rude in failing to obey you in regard to the bulbs you desire; this is due to the fact that the only bulbs I found were in the ground and when I tried to lift them I saw that they already had "beards" [roots] which would be damaged by the digging. I would have sent you a little box some time ago containing certain samples of bulbs; Your Highness could then have had them planted and if these varieties pleased you, I would have procured them in greater quantity. This, however, did not come to pass because the Most Illustrious Cardinal Patron [Carlo de' Medici] still keeps me waiting in hope that a case of bulbs will appear from Flanders, sent to him by Cardinal [Francesco] Barberini and he will then give me some of these. However, they are yet to arrive and when they do, I doubt that it will be the season for planting them; they will thus need to be kept for the following year. In any event, I wanted to send you these four [bulbs] and when those of the Cardinal [Carlo de' Medici] arrive, I will put them aside to send you in the proper season; thus you will not be deprived of flowers when the earth begins to dry. From time to time I will send more to Your Highness, to whom I now humbly pay reverence […]

From Florence the 20 of November 1627

Most humble and devoted servant,
Niccolò Giugni

TEXT:
Ser.ma Sig.ra e Patrona Colendissima […] V.A. non mi reputi malcreato se non ho ubbidito in materia dille cipolle della sorte che V.A. desidera, e ciò è causato per non haverne trovate fuori del terreno, e quando ho cercato cavarle ha visto che havevono digià le barbe, e cavandole si sarieno guaste. E più fa haverei mandato una scatoletta con entrovi certe mostre di cipolle acciò che V.A. le facessi piantare da per se, e se la sorte di esse li fussino piacute [piaciute], a suo tempo haverei servito V.A. di maggior quantità. E che ciò non sia seguito ne è stato causa l'Ill.mo S.r Cardinale Patrone [Carlo de' Medici], quale m'ha trattenuto fino a hoggi con speranza che doversi comparirli una cassetta di cipolle di Fiandra, fattoli havere il Sig.r Cardinale [Francesco] Barberino per darmene parte, ma non sono ancora comparse e dubito che quando arriveranno non sarà tempo di metterle in terra, ma tenerle per l'hanno vegnente. Ho voluto in hogni modo mandarli queste quatro e venendo quelle del Sig.r Cardinale le salverò per mandarle a suo tempo fra tanto perchè non resti priva di fiori come rasiuga il terreno. Ne andrò di quando in quando mandando a V.A. e le faccio humilissima reverenza […]

Di Firenze a 20 di novembre 1627

Humilissimo e devotissimo servitore
Niccolò Giugni

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
Originating in Turkey (and considered to replicate the shape of the native turban), tulips were highly sought-after by Europeans as symbols of luxury and exoticism. Especially in Holland, vast sums were spent on the most prized varieties; bulbs were auctioned and traded, and investors speculated in tulip futures. This craze culminated in the notorious "tulipmania" of 1636/7, when the Dutch tulip market spiraled out of control and then collapsed, unleashing widespread financial panic.

Italian princes, both secular and ecclesiastical, showed a keen if less exaggerated interest in these curious flowers. In the present letter, Tuscan court functionary Niccolò Giugni makes his excuses to Caterina de' Medici (1593-1621), a lady who was otherwise famed for her extreme piety and sober behaviour. Daughter of Grand Duke Ferdinando I de'Medici and consort of Duke Ferdinando Gonzaga, Caterina ruled as Duchess of Mantua from 1617 until 1626. Then from 1627 until her death in 1629, she served as Governor of Siena, where she presumably intended to create her lavish imported garden.

Though Caterina's younger brother Carlo de' Medici (1595-1666) achieved the dignity of Cardinal at the precocious age of twenty, he was best known for his luxurious tastes and his passion for gardening. The "Cardinal Barberini" in question was presumably Francesco, nephew of the reigning Pope Urban VIII Barberini. In the eminently well-cardinaled Barberini family, it was not easy to avoid a confusion of names. Therefore, the Pope's brother Antonio Barberini was usually referred to as "Cardinal Sant'Onofrio" and the Pope's other nephew (also Antonio Barberini) as "Cardinal Antonio".

It is worth noting that Cardinal Barberini's tulip bulbs were indeed entering Italy by way of the Netherlands. We can also observe the meticulous care accorded such rare and precious botanical specimens.