1. Monastery of San Marco - Machiavelli’s Savonarola2. The First Performance of "The Mandrake" at Palazzo Medici Riccardi3. The Basilica of San Lorenzo - Preaching to the Women4. Piazza della Signoria - A Citizens’ Militia5. Palazzo Vecchio - Machiavelli and the Florentine Chancery6. The Loggia della Signoria (or “dei Lanzi”) - Machiavelli, the Republic and the Medicean Signoria7. The Bargello - Machiavelli and the War8. The Tabernacle of the Stinche - Machiavelli as Prisoner9. Casa Buonarroti - The Fortifications of Florence10. Santa Croce - the Death of Niccolò Machiavelli11
Palazzo Strozzi - the Fortune of Machiavelli
The last stage of our itinerary takes us far from the biographical events of Niccolò Machiavelli, projecting us into the future to examine the reception of his work in modern Europe. We are, in fact, at Palazzo Strozzi, seat of the Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento [National Institute for Renaissance Studies], which contains the Machiavelli-Serristori Archive, consisting of books by and about Machiavelli that once belonged to the collection of Sofia Serristori and were then purchased by the Region of Tuscany.
Palazzo Strozzi stands in Piazza Strozzi at the center of Florence, about ten minutes by foot from the Basilica of Santa Croce and very close to Piazza della Repubblica. The Palazzo was built at the firm determination of Filippo Strozzi the Elder to represent the newly regained status of his family, which had been severely penalized in the past for having opposed the Medici faction. Filippo was in reality a prudent man, devoted to his work as banker and maintaining good relations with the families that ruled Italy, including the Medici. But in spite of this, on August 6, 1489 - the date was chosen also for astrological reasons - the first stone of this monumental palace was laid. A real fortress in the heart of Florence, it was built to the model of Palazzo Medici but much larger. Palazzo Strozzi appears as a cubic structure with three floors; the facade of cushion-shaped blocks gradually degrading with height, to become almost smooth at the top, is strikingly impressive.
Palazzo Strozzi houses such major cultural institutions as the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation, the Gabinetto Vieusseux, the Florentine seat of the Scuola Normale Superiore, and the Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento, which conserves the Machiavelli-Serristori Archive. In the Library of the Institute is a portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli, by some attributed to Rosso Fiorentino which, like the books, comes from Sofia Serristori's collection.
The Machiavelli-Serristori Archive in the Library of the Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento is an excellent starting point for understanding the European scope of Niccolò Machiavelli's renown. It includes, in fact, old publications of books by the Florentine Secretary dating back to the mid-sixteenth century, and up to the 1940s. Noteworthy among the volumes are the Discursos de Nicolao Machiaveli. Dirigidos al muy alto y poderos Señor don Philippe Principe de España nuestro Señor, that is, the first Spanish translation of the Discourses on Livy (Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di Tito Livio), The translation was done by Juan Lorenzo Ottevanti and published on two occasions, in 1552 and again in 1555 by Medina del Campo. It is interesting to note that, some years before Machiavelli was put on the index, the Spanish translation of his masterpiece could be dedicated to the future King Philip II without this seeming improper in the least. Although many erudite Spaniards could read Machiavelli directly in the original, Ottevanti's work had some positive effects. A young American scholar, Keith David Howard, has in fact pointed out that Ottevanti's translation played a significant role in disseminating Machiavelli's vocabulary of contingency in the Hispanic world.
Ottevanti's translation is by no means the only testimonial to the European dissemination of Machiavelli's writings found in the Machiavelli-Serristori Archive. On the contrary, the versions in Italian, and even more the Latin translations, could be easily read by the well-educated of the entire continent - as shown by the fact that John Wolfe published the Discourses (Discorsi) in Italian in London. Another example can be seen in Les discours de l'etat de paix et de Guerre, de messire Nicolas Machiavelli, to which was added a French translation of The Prince (Il Principe), printed in Paris in 1571. Noteworthy among the Latin editions in the Archive is the Latin translation of the Discourses dated 1591 and dedicated "Ad generosum et magnificum D. Ioannem Osmolski, de Praviedniki, Polonorum", testifying to the dissemination of Machiavelli's thought in Poland as well. Most significant, in conclusion, was the European circulation of Machiavelli's thought, through his works read either in the original or in translation, and not merely the generic myth of Machiavelli and the obscure fame of Machiavellism.
