A request that this article title be changedto Alberti family is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed.
The coat of arms of the Alberti in the Torre degli Alberti loggia.
For people with the surname Alberti who are not members of this family, see Alberti (surname).
The Alberti family was a major political family in Florence.
The Alberti originated from the castle of Catenaia in ValdarnoCasentinese, whence the presence of two chains (Italian: catena) in their coat of arms. They became established in Florence during the 13th century with judge Rustico Alberti and divided into different lines, who owned several houses and towers near the modern Ponte alle Grazie. Due to their Guelph allegiance, they were exiled after the Battle of Montaperti, but returned after Manfred of Sicily's defeat in the battle of Benevento (1266). They subsequently sided for the Black Guelph faction, and established a flourishing trade company with agencies at Bologna, Genoa, Venice, Barcelona, Paris, Ghent, Brussels, Bruges and London, as well as in Syria and Greece.
In 1378, the Alberti were again banned for their support of the Ciompi revolt. Some of them were admitted in the Venetian nobility late in the century. Returned to Florence, in the 15th century they were first allied to the Medici against the Albizzi. Main members of the period include writer Antonio Alberti, cardinal Alberto di Giovanni Alberti and architect and Renaissance theorist Leon Battista Alberti.
The family's importance decreased after the creation of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the 16th century. The main lineage died during the Victorian Era, and their lands passed on to in-laws. After numerous legal battles, the blood-related Alberti branch of the family recovered several properties.
Dante Alighieri, probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to simply as Dante, was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedìa and later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio, is widely considered the most important poem of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language.
Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher and cryptographer; he epitomised the Renaissance Man.
Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 14th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the Renaissance style quickly spread to other Italian cities. The style was carried to Spain, France, Germany, England, Russia and other parts of Europe at different dates and with varying degrees of impact.
The Pazzi were a noble Florentine family in the Middle Ages. Their main trade during the fifteenth century was banking. In the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478, members of the family were banished from Florence and their property was confiscated; anyone named Pazzi had to take a new name.
The Republic of Florence, officially the Florentine Republic, was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon the death of Matilda of Tuscany, who controlled vast territories that included Florence. The Florentines formed a commune in her successors' place. The republic was ruled by a council known as the Signoria of Florence. The signoria was chosen by the gonfaloniere, who was elected every two months by Florentine guild members.
The Italian Renaissance, a period in Italian history that covered the 15th and 16th centuries, developed a culture that spread across Europe and marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. Proponents of a "long Renaissance" argue that it began in the 14th century and lasted until the 17th century. The French word renaissance means "rebirth" and defines the period as one of cultural revival and renewed interest in classical antiquity after the centuries which Renaissance humanists labeled the "Dark Ages". The Renaissance author Giorgio Vasari used the term "Rebirth" in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects in 1550, but the concept became widespread only in the 19th century, after the work of scholars such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt.
The Italian city-states were numerous political and independent territorial entities that existed in the Italian Peninsula from the beginning of the Middle Ages until the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, which took place in 1861.
The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of central and northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, rivalry between these two parties formed a particularly important aspect of the internal politics of medieval Italy. The struggle for power between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire arose with the Investiture Controversy, which began in 1075, and ended with the Concordat of Worms in 1122. The division between the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy, fuelled by the imperial Great Interregnum, persisted until the 15th century.
Empoli is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The commune's territory becomes hilly as it departs from the river. Empoli is on the main railway line from Florence to Pisa, and is the point of divergence of a line to Siena. Empoli has an enduring tradition as an agricultural centre. It has given its name to a local variety of artichoke.
The Battle of Campaldino was a battle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines on 11 June 1289. Mixed bands of pro-papal Guelf forces of Florence and allies, Pistoia, Lucca, Siena, and Prato, all loosely commanded by the paid condottiero Amerigo di Narbona with his own professional following, met a Ghibelline force from Arezzo including the perhaps reluctant bishop, Guglielmino degli Ubertini, in the plain of Campaldino, which leads from Pratovecchio to Poppi, part of the Tuscan countryside along the upper Arno called the Casentino. One of the combatants on the Guelph side was Dante Alighieri, twenty-four years old at the time.
Bentivoglio was an Italian family that became the de facto rulers of Bologna and responsible for giving the city its political autonomy during the Renaissance, although their rule did not survive a century.
The Republic of Lucca was a historic state of Italy, which lasted from 1160 to 1805 on the central Italian peninsula.
The Battle of Montaperti was fought on 4 September 1260 between Florence and Siena in Tuscany as part of the conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Florentines were routed. It was the bloodiest battle fought in Medieval Italy, with more than 10,000 fatalities. An act of treachery during the battle is recorded by Dante Alighieri in the Inferno section of the Divine Comedy.
The Albizzi family was a Florentine family originally based in Arezzo, who were rivals of the Medici and Alberti families. They were at the centre of Florentine oligarchy from 1382, in the reaction that followed the Ciompi revolt, to the rise of the Medici in 1434. The most infamous and influential members of the family were Maso and his son Rinaldo degli Albizzi (1370–1442) who countered the rise of Cosimo de' Medici, exiling him in 1433. Luca, another son of Maso, was head of the Florentine galleys; his diary is an important source for historians. Luca was a loyal friend to Cosimo de' Medici. As a result, Luca was permitted to stay in Florence when the rest of his clan, including his brother, were exiled under the Medici regime in 1434. Moreover, in 1442, Luca Albizzi actually became the Gonfalonier of Justice and stayed a key ally of Cosimo during this time.
San Miniato is a town and comune in the province of Pisa, in the region of Tuscany, Italy.
Florence weathered the decline of the Western Roman Empire to emerge as a financial hub of Europe, home to several banks including that of the politically powerful Medici family. The city's wealth supported the development of art during the Italian Renaissance, and tourism attracted by its rich history continues today.
The Republic of Siena was a historic state consisting of the city of Siena and its surrounding territory in Tuscany, central Italy. It existed for over 400 years, from 1125 to 1555. During its existence, it gradually expanded throughout southern Tuscany becoming one of the major powers of the Middle Ages, and one of the most important commercial, financial and artistic centers in Europe.
Gavorrano is a mountain-side comune (municipality) in the Province of Grosseto in the western Italian region of Tuscany, located about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Florence and about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Grosseto. Gavorrano borders the municipalities of Castiglione della Pescaia, Grosseto, Massa Marittima, Roccastrada and Scarlino.
Corso Donati was a leader of the Black Guelph faction in 13th- and early 14th- century Florence.
The Torre degli Alberti is a XIII century medieval tower in Florence, Italy. It has a polygonal plan and was the headquarters and residence of the Alberti, one of the most numerous and powerful families in the medieval Florence.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
