The Arte della Lana was the wool guild of Florence during the Late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. It was one of the seven '' Arti Maggiori ''("greater trades") of

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, separate from the '' Arti Minori'' (the "lesser trades") and the '' Arti Mediane ''(the "middle trades"). The Arte della Lana dealt in woollen cloth and cooperated with the other corporations of bankers and merchants in administering the commune, both under the

podestà (), also potestate or podesta in English, was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of central and northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a c ...

and the Republic of Florence. The powerful Albizzi family were prominent members of the guild.

History

At the height of the industry the Arte della Lana directly employed 30,000 workers and indirectly about a third of Florence's population, and produced 100,000 lengths of cloth annually. The Arte della Lana saw all the processes from the raw baled wool through the final cloth, woven at numerous looms scattered in domiciles throughout the city. Like other

guilds A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

, the ''Arte'' served only to coordinate the activities of its own members, who did not generally own the means of production or directly manage the processes. Its syndics ensured that quality standards were met and contracts were honored. The predecessor and, until the mid-14th century the rival of the Arte della Lana, was the powerful Arte di Calimala, a corporation of importers of raw cloth, who dyed and finished it. The

guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

, the ''Palazzo dell’ Arte della Lana'', was completed in 1308, with an attached fortifiable tower-house. From its interior, where some 14th-century frescoes remain, a gallery designed by Bernardo Buontalenti links the palazzo with the church of Orsanmichele. The palazzo is now the seat of the ''Società Dantesca.'' The wool guild was also located in Florence, Italy, and commissioned Michelangelo to sculpt the statue ''David''.

Patronage

The Arte della Lana exercised its patronage over the Opera del Duomo, entrusted to it directly by the Signoria in 1331. The patron saint chosen by the guild was Santo Stefano. The guild commissioned a statue of the saint from

Lorenzo Ghiberti Lorenzo Ghiberti (, , ; 1378 – 1 December 1455), born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence, a key figure in the Early Renaissance, best known as the creator of two sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptister ...

(1427–1428) placed in the tabernacle on the facade of Orsanmichele (today a copy).

The Palazzo

The original building intended as the residence of the Arte della Lana was erected in 1308, as attested by two Latin inscriptions on the fronts of the current building, incorporating an older tower of the Compiobbesi family, partly burnt down in 1284, after the expulsion of the family since they were

Ghibellines The Guelphs and Ghibellines ( , ; ) were factions supporting the Pope (Guelphs) and the Holy Roman Emperor (Ghibellines) in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy during the Middle Ages. During the 12th and 13th centurie ...

. In the following centuries, further rooms were built to expand the headquarters, due to the considerable public activity of the Arte. To allow easier access to the upper floors of the church of Orsanmichele, intended to house the new General Archive of private contracts and wills,

Cosimo I de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. ...

decreed in 1569 the construction of a staircase with access from via Calimala which, following the side of the residence with a further leaning body, determined an aerial connection between the two buildings on via dell'Arte della Lana. The project was realized by Bernardo Buontalenti. After the suppression of the guild in 1770, the building was already transformed into a tenement, and became a rectory of the church of Orsanmichele from 1772 on. Purchased in 1890 by the Municipality of Florence, it escaped the demolitions of the Renovation despite being deeply compromised, and was sold in 1903 to the Dante Alighieri Society for public readings as an illustration of the ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...

''. This promoted a complex restoration and reconstruction of the property, now isolated following the rehabilitation of the Mercato Vecchio area (1885-1895), in order to transform the ancient Compiobbesi tower into an architecture adhering to the idea that one had then of fourteenth-century Florence. Having examined various projects (among which the one in numerous and beautiful tables by the architect Cesare Spighi is kept in the Historical Archive of the Municipality) the works were then implemented in 1905 by the architect Enrico Lusini, who in any case had the merit (compared to other hypothesis) of leaving the door designed by Bernardo Buontalenti to the right of the main front of the building, albeit demolishing the sixteenth-century staircase and building a new one on the other side of the building, as well as giving "gloss and dignity to a building which previously was only called the keep".

Citations

Other references

* * *{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191050/http://www.astonisher.com/archives/corporation/corporation_ch9.html , title=Bruce Brown, "History of the corporation": chapter 9 , date=2016-03-03

History

Patronage

The Palazzo

Citations

Other references

Further reading