The palleschi, also known as bigi, were partisans of the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

family in Florence. The name derived by the Medici

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...

, bearing six 'balls' (''palle''). Massimo D'Azeglio, Italian writer and historian, in his ''Niccolò de' Lapi, or the Palleschi and the Piagnoni'' (1866)

wrote explicitly: "the part of the citizens which improved their reputation and got rich under the Medici.... was called pallesca".D'Azeglio, 1866 On April 26, 1478, at the end of the so-called Pazzi conspiracy which resulted the death of

Giuliano de' Medici Giuliano de' Medici (25 October 1453 – 26 April 1478) was the second son of Piero de' Medici (the Gouty) and Lucrezia Tornabuoni. As co-ruler of Florence, with his brother Lorenzo the Magnificent, he complemented his brother's image as the ...

(brother of Lorenzo, who was himself seriously wounded), the people of Florence responded to the cry "Freedom, Freedom!" by the conspirator Jacopo de' Pazzi with "Palle, palle!", in a clear reference to the Medici coat-of-arms and, more broadly, to their partisans the ''palleschi''. Aldo Arcangeli, in his book ''The Strozzavolpe Castle'' writes that the conspirator Jacopo Bracciolini, secretary of Girolamo Riario, 'was hung by the Palleschi because of the Pazzi conspiracy" (Arcangeli, 1960). The substantial equivalence between ''Palleschi'' and Medici partisans is confirmed by the letter written by the Florentine philosopher, writer and politician

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...

"Il ricordo ai Palleschi del 1512

a plea to the Palleschi, returned in Florence after twenty years of exile, in favor of the Gonfaloniere Piero Soderini "exiled by the government of the Florence Republic" (Vivanti, 1997). Likewise, the rivalry between the Palleschi, partisans of the Medici family, and the Piagnoni ("Weepers"), followers of

Girolamo Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of ...

, developed into conflict. Massimo D'Azeglio in ''Niccolò de' Lapi'' says that "the parts of Piagnoni and Palleschi, rivals for old rancors and new insults, kept the city divided' (D'Azeglio, 1866). After the death of Savonarola, the interests of the Palleschi came to be differentiated from purely Medici interests, as testified by the ''Storia Fiorentina'' of Benedetto Varchi (Firenze 1503–1565) in relation to the opposition of the Palleschi against the Medici

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

(Varchi, 1857). The fortunes of the Palleschi were nevertheless strictly connected to the Medici. For example, during the siege of Florence by Charles V when the Florentine government hardly repressed "the enemies within the walls", references the Palleschi who stayed in the city (Bertelli, 1986) Many of them preferred the exile to Venice, Bologna or Rome so as to avoid being arrested or falling victim to the violence described by D'Azeglio in "Niccolò de' Lapi" (D'Azeglio, 1866)

Notes

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Bibliography

* F. Serafino Montorio, "Lo Zodiaco di Maria", Napoli 1715 * Benedetto Varchi, "Storia Fiorentina", Felice Le Monnier, Firenze 1857 * Massimo D'Azeglio, "Niccolò de' Lapi, ovvero, i Palleschi e i Piagnoni", Felice Le Monnier, Firenze 1866 * Sergio Bertelli, Franco Cardini, Elvira Galbero Zorzi, "Le Corti Italiane del Rinascimento", Mondadori 1986 * Aldo Arcangeli, "Il castello di Strozzavolpe", Ed. Nencini, Poggibonsi 1960. * "Niccolò Machiavelli - Opere - volume I", a cura di Corrado Vivanti, Einaudi-Gallimard, Torino 1997 15th century in the Republic of Florence 16th century in the Republic of Florence