Luca Corsini was the popular Prior of Florence who shut the door of the Palazzo della Signoria in the face of Piero de’ Medici after his cession of Pisa, Leghorn, Pietrasanta and Sarzana to Charles VIII, of France. As ardent a republican and as great an enemy of the Medici as he was a friend of Savonarola, it is related that in 1498 the grave magistrate was seen throwing stones and fighting in the streets in defence of Fra Girolamo like any young lad. A daughter of the house of Corsini, Marietta, married the celebrated Niccolò Macchiavelli and is said to be depicted in his novel _Belfegor_; this may be—but he mentions her in his will with affection and esteem. Bertholdo Corsini, who was elected a Prior of Florence in 1531 after the fall of the Republic, must have been a weak man. He paid court to Duke Alessandro de’ Medici, who made him custodian of the fortress of San Giovan Battista; but when Alessandro was murdered by his cousin Lorenzino, Corsini repented and offered to give up the arms and ammunition in the fortress to the citizens, who fearing a snare refused to listen to him. When Cosimo II, entered the city, Bertholdo fled and joined the standard of Piero Strozzi. He escaped with his life from the battle of Montemurlo and after fighting in Piedmont and in France, returned to Italy when the Siennese revolted and was appointed custodian of the castle of Sienna. In the battle of Orbetello Bertholdo was taken prisoner by the Spaniards, sold to Cosimo for 600 scudi, and beheaded on the 2nd March 1555 in the Piazza S. Apollinari.