History
As signori of Padua, their overwhelming power and patronage placed them in an isolated position far outshining any other single family. Their extensive land holdings in the Paduan contado were supplemented by extensive property within the comune itself, and their political prominence made them comparable to the Scaligeri of contemporary Verona, or the Visconti of Milan. [2] Margaret Plant has examined how "in its period of domination in Padua from 1337 to 1405 the house of Carrara sustained a singular chapter in the history of patronage". [3] Francesco il Vecchio, son of Giacomo, a close friend of Petrarch in his early years, [4] was a noted patron of Petrarch himself and commissioned frescoes (destroyed) illustrating Petrarch's De viris illustribus in the palazzo, c. 1367–1379, employing Guariento and others; [5] Petrarch's retirement years were spent at Arquà, a Carrara fief, and he bequeathed to Francesco his picture of the Virgin by Giotto.
Coming from Carrara Santo Stefano, near Padua, the family had their origin in a certain Gamberto/Gumberto, of Lombard origin, to judge from his name and that of his son Luitolfo, founder of the abbey of Carrara in 1027; Gumberto was signore of castrum Carrariae, the Castello of Carrara San Giorgio. [6] Faithful to the emperors generation after generation, after becoming lords of Pernumia, in 1338 they ousted the Veronese della Scala from Padua and became the lords of that city. In 1388 a coalition of Milanese and Venetians forced Francesco il Vecchio to abdicate in favor of his son. The Venetians annexed Padua as Venetian territory in 1405. The elder Cararrese line was extinguished with the murders of Francesco Novello da Carrara and all his sons but Marsilio and bishop Stefano in a Venetian prison in 1406; Marsilio died soon after, and Stefano fled to Rome, where he lived until 1448; all Paduan bishops to the end of the Venetian Republic (1797), with two exceptions, were Venetian nobles. [7] The Baptistery at Padua, which was under Carrarese patronage and served as their mortuary chapels, reverted to the bishop and the cathedral chapter; its Carrarese tombs were removed when the floor level was raised. [8]
Part of their palace in Padua is still standing. Notable parts are the Loggia and the Sala dei Giganti. They erected the important Abbazia di Santo Stefano abbey in the locality Carrara Santo Stefano, between the modern Due Carrare and Padua. The abbey's church, dedicated to Saint Stephen, is still standing today and contains, among others, the tomb of Marsilio da Carrara.
In the 15th century the Carraresi were represented in the cadet male line of the two descended from 13th-century brothers Marsilio (the elder) and Jacopino (the younger). The imprese of the family coat of arms is a four-wheeled cart (carro), and the family colors are red and white, in a checkerboard arrangement.
Padua is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 214,000. The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) which has a population of around 2,600,000.
Giovanni Conversini, also known as Giovanni di Conversino or John of Ravenna, was an Italian educator, whose students included Vittorino da Feltre and Guarino da Verona. He is one of two individuals of that name in Petrarch's letters.
Cangrandedella Scala was an Italian nobleman, belonging to the della Scala family which ruled Verona from 1308 until 1387. Now perhaps best known as the leading patron of the poet Dante Alighieri, Cangrande was in his own day chiefly acclaimed as a successful warrior and autocrat. Between becoming sole ruler of Verona in 1311 and his death in 1329 he took control of several neighbouring cities, notably Vicenza, Padua and Treviso, and came to be regarded as the leader of the Ghibelline faction in northern Italy.
Due Carrare is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of Venice and about 15 kilometres (9 mi) south of Padua.
Francesco II da Carrara, known as Francesco il Novello, was Lord of Padua after his father, Francesco I il Vecchio, renounced the lordship on 29 June 1388; he was a member of the family of Carraresi. He married Taddea, daughter of Niccolò II d'Este, Lord of Modena.
Jacopo or Giacomo da Carrara may refer to:
Ubertino Ida Carrara, called Novello and better known as Ubertinello, was the Lord of Padua from 1338 until his death.
Pietro Donato (1380–1447) was a Venetian Renaissance humanist and the Bishop of Padua. He was a noted bibliophile, epigraphist, collector, and patron of art.
Venetian literature is the corpus of literature in Venetian, the vernacular language of the region roughly corresponding to Venice, from the 12th century. Venetian literature, after an initial period of splendour in the sixteenth century with the success of artists such as Ruzante, reached its zenith in the eighteenth century, thanks to its greatest exponent, dramatist Carlo Goldoni. Subsequently, the literary production in Venetian underwent a period of decline following the collapse of the Republic of Venice, but survived nonetheless into the twentieth century to reach peaks with wonderful lyrical poets such as Biagio Marin of Grado.
Marsilio da Carrara was Lord of Padua after his uncle Jacopo I. He was a member of the Carraresi family.
Jacopo II da Carrara, of the Carraresi family, was the capitano del popolo of Padua from 1345 until his death. Though he assumed power through forged documents and political murder, he was a patron of art and literature. He succeeded in bringing Francesco Petrarca to Padua for a time, and his own son, Francesco I, was an artisan. Jacopo also introduced the carrarino as the currency of Padua.
Jacopo or Giacomo I da Carrara, called the Great (Grande), was the founder of the Carraresi dynasty that ruled Padua from 1318 to 1405. He governed with the advice of the leading citizens during a rule characterized by unity within the city. He is usually considered the first lord of Padua (signore), his election marking the transition from commune ad singularem dominum, a characteristic regime known as a signoria to contemporaries.
Francesco I da Carrara, called il Vecchio, was Lord of Padua from 1350 to 1388.
The Padua Baptistery, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is a religious building found on the Piazza del Duomo next to the cathedral in Padua. Preserved inside is one of the most important fresco cycles of the 14th century, a masterpiece by Giusto de Menabuoi.
The Papafava were an aristocratic family of Padua, a junior branch of the Carraresi. It was admitted into the Venetian patriciate among the so-called Houses Made for Money.
Maddalena Scrovegni was an Italian humanist.
The House of Buzzaccarini is a Patavian family that had a notable role in the history of the Republic of Venice.
Guglielmo Cortusi (fl. 1305–1361) was a Paduan judge, diplomat and chronicler whose Chronica de novitatibus Padue et Lombardie is the principal primary source for Paduan history in the early years of Carraresi rule.
The War of Padua was a conflict in 1404–1405 between the Republic of Venice and the Carrarese lordship of Padua. In the power vacuum produced by the death of the Duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, in 1402, Francesco II da Carrara endeavored to expand into the Veneto and capture cities held by Visconti troops. These designs alarmed Venice, which allied with Milan to counter the common threat posed by the Carrarese state, and for the first time adopted a policy of direct intervention in the affairs of its hinterland.
Paolo Savelli was an Italian condottiero who served under Alberico da Barbiano in the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples, before entering the service of the Duchy of Milan in its wars with Florence. He finally served the Republic of Venice as its commander-in-chief during the War of Padua, dying of the plague during the final siege of Padua.
