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The curious thing – which characterized the early centuries of the building’s history – is that the oldest part, during the various changes of ownership, was never paid for its effective value. Following the death of Bartolomeo Scala the palace passed to his direct heirs, then to Cardinal Alessandro de’ Medici who became Pope Leo XI though remained on the papal throne for only 26 days, then to the Della Gherardesca family who exploited the potential of the gardens and carried out restorations. Bartolomeo Scala asked for and was granted permission to construct within the edifice a chapel with a Greek-cross plan. The building of a private place of worship, as Vanna Arrighi has indicated6, was quite unusual for a private dwelling, although it does give us an idea of the power Scala already possessed after 10 years of chancellorship, a position that had enabled him to accumulate a large fortune while remaining below the threshold of high taxation.
With “Il Magnifico”, always The vicissitudes relating to the construction of his house – which Francesca Klein has described as «one of the earliest and most conspicuous examples of personal promotion that took place in the Florentine government establishment during the Republican period»7 – were inevitably interwoven with political events in the city – the Pazzi conspiracy, the assassination of Giuliano de’ Medici in the cathedral and the wounding of Lorenzo the Magnificent. During the crisis which followed this bloody episode Scala’s authority suffered a temporary decline, though his loyalty to the Medici family guaranteed his role of primary importance in the fortunes of Lorenzo’s power. During the plague epidemic of January 1479, Florence’s political leaders placed their trust in Scala, virtually leaving him alone in the city to receive and send letters which would otherwise have remained unanswered. It was at this time – after the crisis following the conspiracy perpetrated in Santa Maria del Fiore and the full recovery of political power – that Scala decided to concentrate on the embellishment of his palace and the courtyard, choosing valid builders and stucco-workers (who did not belong to the Florentine tradition), with an austere style, that is, adapting his personal style to that of the house. Reliefs were executed for the palace’s inner courtyard, the oldest one, still visible today, whose illustration forms part of the themes dealt with by Cristina Acidini in the present volume. As the same author had occasion to write ten years ago, «in the twelve reliefs, harsh and imbued with mystery, Bartolomeo Scala intended to give figurative form to concepts alluding to the intimate flow of his private thoughts, or convictions, or experiences or plans».8 The reliefs, the work of Bertoldo di Giovanni (an artist linked to Lorenzo who had trained at the school of Donatello, works by whom are today conserved at the
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