and went into exile.” He died at Ancona in 1452.
His brother Luca, on the contrary, was an ardent adherent of the Medici
and his descendants filled important posts under the Republic. The
stern, grey palace, now divided into many houses, at the eastern end of
Borgo degl’Albizzi, under which passes a small street was, I believe,
built by him for one of his sons. The Albizzi arms, two golden rings
one inside the other under a cross of the Teutonic order, are still to
be seen on the façade. The Marquess Vittorio degl’Albizzi, to whose
memory there is an inscription on the great family palace, was the last
of his race.
PALAZZO ALESSANDRI
_Borgo degl’Albizzi. No. 15._
In 1372 Alessandro and Bartolomeo degl’Albizzi quarrelled with their
brothers, and obtained the consent of the Signori to take the name of
Alessandri and to adopt another coat of arms. They chose the emblem
of the Guild of Wool to which they belonged, adding a second head to
the well-known lamb. Later the house of Aragon bestowed upon them the
privilege of adding a golden crown and palm leaves to their shield.
Twenty-three Priors and nine Gonfaloniers of Justice of the family sat
in the Palazzo de’ Signori and many of them were sent on important
embassies. Alessandro degl’Alessandri was knighted by the Emperor
Frederick IV., while his brother Bartolomeo gained such favour with
the King of Naples that he made him Chancellor of the Exchequer. In
1439 the Emperor Paleologus bestowed the title of Count on one of the
Alessandri and some eighty years later Leo X. created them Counts of
the Holy Roman Empire, a title confirmed by Gregory XVI. in 1845.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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