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Updated 04-06-08
Alessandra Macinghi
Strozzi (1407/8-1471)
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"SENSIBLE PEOPLE DON'T TAKE ANY CHANCES."
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Alessandra Macinghi was born into a family of well-to-do Florentine
merchants. Her mother died when she was very young and her father
in 1420. Two years later, when she was about 14, she was married
to Matteo Strozzi, 25 years old, from one of the more prestigious
merchant and diplomatic families of the city. The couple had
eight children, of whom five lived to adulthood.
In 1434, the Medici family came to power in Florence; Matteo
had been a member of the group in opposition, so he was exiled.
Although not legally required to do so, Alessandra joined her
husband in his exile, and they went to Pesaro, on the Adriatic.
After about a year there, Matteo and three of the children died
of the plague. Alessandra returned to Florence with her surviving
children, where she was helped by her husband's relatives. Some
of Matteo's cousins had established a merchant bank with offices
in Naples, Bruges, and Barcelona; they agreed to take the two
older boys into their employ. By 1447, when Alessandra's eldest
son, Filippo, was 19, and his brother Lorenzo was 15, both were
working and living far from Florence; as a result, we have Alessandra's
letters to them.
The personalities of her three sons (at least as Alessandra saw them) come out in her letters: Filippo was hard-working, perhaps a bit too interested in money-making; Lorenzo was not terribly hard-working, but attractive; Matteo, born after his father's death, was his mother's memento of her husband. Alessandra had two daughters, but once they were advantageously married, we hear little about them. The both lived in Florence, and their husbands corresponded with the young Strozzi men abroad; this may be the reason they get little mention in Alessandra's letters to her sons.
The letters cover three periods: 1447 to 1453, when the brothers were making their way in the world and required motherly advice; 1458 to 1466, when the two older brothers were themselves exiles (the Medici in power again), and required help in arranging marriages, etc.; and 1469 to 1470, when the eldest son was traveling on banking business and required news of his wife and son. All of these requirements Alessandra fulfills in a way that will be familiar to anyone who has ever known a mother.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print.
Information about secondary sources.
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1. Translated passages:
(a) William Fredlund's summaries of over a dozen letters written between 1447 and 1465 include a few excerpts, translated by Heather Gregory.
(b) Excerpts from four of Alessandra's letters of 1464-65, describing her search for a wife for Filippo.
(c) Use your browser's search function to go to "Strozzi" for two passages, from 1447 and 1465, on women's dress.
(d) Go to "Strozzi" for lines from letters written 15 years apart, on Alessandra's difficulties with Cateruccia, a household slave.
2. All but the first and last paragraphs of an article, "A Florentine Family in the Fifteenth Century," by E.D.R. Bianciardi, originally published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1881. The article gives quotations and paraphrases from Alessandra's letters; it also tells of her daughters' marriages and something of the subsequent history of the family. You can also link to "A brief history of the Strozzi family," and to "Strozzi patronage" for illustrations of art work commissioned by the Strozzi.
3. At this alphabetical list from the University of Chicago's "Italian Women Writers" site, go to Macinghi Strozzi and click on "Texts Available" for two links: to Lettere di una gentildonna fiorentina, the Italian originals of 72 of Alessandra's letters from an 1877 edition (you can link to the whole or to individual letters); and to Una lettera..., a 1448 letter not included in the above (here you can link to a facsimile).
4. Reviews (for excerpts from the translation, see below, under "In print"; for information on the other books' treatment of Strozzi, see "Secondary sources"):
(a) Judith Bryce on Gregory's 1997 translation, Selected Letters of Alessandra Strozzi.
(b) Joyce de Vries on Gene A. Brucker's 2005 study, Living on the Edge in Leonardo's Florence: Selected Essays.
(c) Ellen Moody on the 2005 essay collection, Women's Letters Across Europe, 1400-1700: Form and Persuasion.
(d) Natalie Tomas on Ann Crabb's 2000 study, The Strozzi of Florence: Widowhood and Family Solidarity in the Renaissance.
(e) Fiora A. Bassanese on the 2000 essay collection, A History of Women's Writing in Italy
(f) Penelope Fitzgerald on Mark Phillips' 1987 study, The Memoir of Marco Parenti: A Life in Medici Florence.
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[Heather Gregory gives the Italian original and English translation of 35 of 73 extant letters; some parts of letters are omitted, but the missing information is summarized. The general introduction is helpful on the background of the period, and brief introductions to each letter set the scene:]
Selected letters of Alessandra Strozzi / translated with an
introduction and notes by Heather Gregory (Biblioteca italiana).
Berkeley: University of California Press, c1997. (ix, 252 p.)
LC#: DG737.58.S7 A5 1997; ISBN: 0520203895, 0520203909
Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-242) and index.
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"He who marries is looking for cash."
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[From the first letter in Gregory's selection, August 1447, to Filippo, justifying her arrangement of the marriage of her elder daughter:]
And first I must tell you how by the grace of God we have arranged a marriage for our Caterina to the son of Parente di Piero Parenti. He is a young man of good birth and abilities and an only son, rich and 25 years of age, and he has a silk manufacturing business....
[She described the dowry to be paid by her and her sons; then:]
If I hadn't taken this decision she wouldn't have been married this year, because he who marries is looking for cash and I couldn't find anyone who was willing to wait for the dowry.... We've taken this decision for the best because she was 16 and we didn't want to wait any longer to arrange a marriage. And we found that to place her in a nobler family with greater political status would have needed 1400 or 1500 florins, which would have ruined both of us....
I'm sure she'll be as well placed as any girl in Florence, because she'll have a mother- and father-in-law who are only happy making her happy. [pp. 29-31]
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"Once he is dead neither of us will have him."
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[From a July 1449 letter to Filippo. Alessandra's youngest son, Matteo, was now 13 and his older brothers in Naples wished him to join them; parentheses are the translator's clarifications:]
You should consider how hard it is for me, when I think how I was left when I was still young to bring up five children as young as you all were. I was still pregnant with Matteo and I've brought him up thinking that nothing but death could part him from me, and more than anything else having two out of three away seemed more than enough.
But now I've seen your letter, explaining to me how this will bring you both honor and profit.... So I've decided not to consider the fact that out of three sons, I'll have none to look after me, but to do what's best for you instead....
As he had to leave in a few days the boy went to see my relatives and yours and have a word with them. As it happens they've all made a great fuss about it, (saying) I can't have much love for this boy and that I'm a madwoman to send him at this time because of the plague being everywhere and the great heat and that (even) for adults and those who are used to riding it is unpleasant to travel, let alone for the boy, who has a delicate constitution.
If he doesn't get sick with the plague on the way, which would be surprising, I'm sure he wouldn't complete the journey without catching a fever in the inns they have to use, because I know what he's like. And if things went badly your plan wouldn't succeed and I would never be happy again, and they would have told me it served me right....
And then two Brothers of the Observant Franciscans, who were great friends of your father, came here and discouraged me from sending him now, because the risk is too great.
They said so much to me and (so have) all the others who wish us well... that I didn't want to send him at present, by any means. But later on in September it will be better and the heat will be over.... And so you should be patient for the sake of his health for a month and a half or two at the most, because once he is dead neither of us will have him. [pp.43-47]
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"Your troubles are the worst I have."
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[February, 1453: From a letter to her middle son, Lorenzo, now 20 and not as reliable as his elder brother (he apparently would improve with age):]
To come back to what concerns you, you're old enough to behave in a different way from how you have been; you've got to sort yourself out and concentrate on living properly. Up to now you've been thought of as a boy, but that's no longer the case, both because of your age and because your mistakes can't be put down to ignorance or to not knowing what you're doing....
I gather you don't behave yourself as I'd like you to, and this has made me very unhappy.... Your troubles are the worst I have, worse than all the rest. [p.69]
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"I wish I hadn't taken anyone's advice."
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[From a letter of September 1459 to Filippo: the 23-year-old Matteo had died of malaria in Naples; Alessandra expressed her grief, and then:]
Now my only thought is to hear that you've taken what has happened in the right way, because I know you're grieving, but make sure it's not in a way which does you harm, so we don't throw the handle out after the axe blade....
I hope God doesn't let me live long enough to go through this again. I've been thinking that what with sleepless nights, the grief caused by death, and other things, you're probably not too well yourself. I've been worrying about this day and night and I can't get any rest.
I wish I hadn't taken anyone's advice and had done what seemed right to me instead, what I wanted to do, because then I would have got there in time to see and touch my sweet living son, and that would have comforted me and him and you....
You should have told me the first day Matteo was sick and I could have jumped on a horse and been there in a few days. But I know you didn't do it because you were afraid I'd make myself sick or suffer discomfort, and so I've suffered in mind instead of body.
Now God be praised for everything, because I'm taking all for the best. [pp.81-83]
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"It's very wrong of whoever is doing it."
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[From a letter of February 1461 to Lorenzo. Because they were exiles, the letters of the two brothers to Florence were opened and read by the authorities; legally, Alessandra's letters should not have been, but she believed that they were and here obviously was speaking to other readers as well as to her son:]
I won't say anything more about this, so we won't have everyone hearing about our business, because I think my letters are being treated the same way yours are and I seldom get one which hasn't been opened. I don't know who's doing this....
It's very wrong of whoever is doing it, even though our affairs aren't of great importance. [pp.97-99]
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"Put business and making money to one side."
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[From an April 1464 letter to Filippo; on the plague:]
The plague's a great inconvenience for girls because hardly any marriages are being arranged here.
I see there's also some fear of an outbreak there [Naples] and that some people have died from it already. This has upset me very much, more than the fact that it's here, and I'll go on being afraid of it.
I do beg you as much as I can to be wise enough to watch out
for it; don't wait until it boils over before you leave. Do be
one of the first to go, and remember that everyone's who's died
in our family has gone because of the disease, right up to my
son Matteo. So keep this in mind. Lorenzo will be there soon
and then you can both decide, if there's still plague there....
It would be a good idea, so that you can go on making your living,
to put business and making money to one side; death has wrecked
more plans than anything else. [p.117]
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"A good match for all seasons."
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[From a letter of April 1465 to Filippo; on the search for a wife for him. Cosimo de' Medici had died the year before, and the exiles hoped that they might soon be able to return to Florence. However, in case that didn't happen, Alessandra's search was limited to those families willing to send a daughter away from Florence: ]
About finding you a wife, it seems to us... that if Francesco de Messer Guglilmino Tanagli were willing to give you his daughter, it would be a good match for all seasons, and that out of those which are available, this has the most to recommend it. I liked the da Vernia match, but from what I've heard she is clumsy and looks like a peasant....
And if you ask, "But why would he [Tanagli] give her to an exile?" there are many reasons he might do so. First, there's a shortage of young men of good family who have both money and abilities. Second, she has only a small dowry, I think it's a thousand florins, which is an artisan's dowry.... The third reason why I think he'll give her to us is that he has a big family and needs help to get them settled....
I'll find out more about it and if he doesn't want to, we'll find someone else. [pp.141-43]
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"Get the jewels ready and let them be beautiful."
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[Four months later; more on Tanagli's daughter (in fact, though, this marriage did not take place):]
Marco [one of Alessandra's sons-in-law] says she looks beautiful and that she seemed suitable to him. We've been told that she has the right ideas and is capable and that she runs the household to a large extent because there are twelve children, six boys and six girls, and according to what I hear she runs it all because her mother is always pregnant and doesn't do much....
Get the jewels ready and let them be beautiful, because we have found you a wife. As she is beautiful and the wife of Filippo Strozzi, she will need beautiful jewels. [p.151]
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"A man, when he a real man, makes his wife a wife."
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[September 1465: Just in case Filippo ended up with a "feather-brained" wife, Alessandra gave him some advice; she started by reminding him of a relative who had been "besotted" with his second wife; then:]
Men, when they have such a feather-brained wife, manage to
hold them in check, and a man, when he is a real man, makes his
wife a wife, and he can't do that if he is too infatuated with
her.
When in the beginning she makes little mistakes, he corrects
them so they don't become bigger ones. And sensible people don't
take any chances. There are plenty of women who, because there's
no one to boss them about, make mistakes, so they should be picked
up on every little thing and not allowed to let things slide.
[p.159]
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"I know you will laugh at what I've written and say I'm
a fool."
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[The exile of the two brothers was been lifted in 1466; Filippo returned to Florence and married. In a letter of March 1469, Alessandra wrote to him, away on a business trip to Naples, about his wife, the 19-year-old Fiammetta, pregnant with their second child, and about their 14-month-old son, Alfonso:]
Fiammetta is well; her body is getting bigger and she is a little weighed down, which is not surprising. Otherwise she is well and she stays at home willingly and I stay with her all the time....
You shouldn't be surprised that Alfonso is so well advanced for his age, and that I am teaching him to read.... One evening I said to him, "Daddy is in Naples." I didn't need to say anything more to him about it because when he was asked he said, "Dada in Nape." He is like that with everything and it shows he has a good memory.
I know you will laugh at what I've written and say I'm a fool, but I know it gives me pleasure and comfort and will make you want to see him even more. May God let it be soon and may it bring us happiness and consolation....
Fiammetta is behaving well. [p.207]
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Secondary sources
[Ann Crabb's study of the Strozzi family is based on letters
(those of Strozzis and of others), on contemporary documents
and on recent studies. Crabb quotes from letters by Alessandra
that are not in Gregory's selection (above) and from letters
written to her. The result shows Alessandra in the context of
her Florentine world. The notes and bibliography are detailed.
(See the book's
table of contents online.):]
Crabb, Ann. The Strozzi of Florence: widowhood and family
solidarity in the Renaissance (Studies in medieval and early
modern civilization). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
c2000. (viii, 328 p.: ill.)
LC#: DG731.82.S77 C73 2000; ISBN: 047210912X
Includes bibliographical references and index
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[Crabb's essay in this later collection, "How to Influence
Your Children: Persuasion and Form in Alessandra Macigni Strozzi's
Letters to Her Sons," focuses more specifically on the letters
--- analyzing their structure and style. Quoted passages are
given in Crabb's translation, with the originals given in the
notes. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Women's letters across Europe, 1400-1700: form and persuasion
/ edited by Jane Couchman, Ann Crabb (Women and gender in the
early modern world). Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate,
c2005. (xv, 336 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN4400 .W66 2005; ISBN: 075465107X
Includes bibliographical references (p. [315]-327) and index
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[An earlier essay by Crabb asks "How Typical Was Alessandra
Macinghi Strozzi of Fifteenth-Century Florentine Widows?"
To answer her question, Crabb looks at Alessandra's letters in
the light of what is known from public records, letters by others
to Alessandra, etc.:]
Upon my husband's death: widows in the literature and histories
of medieval Europe / edited by Louise Mirrer (Studies in medieval
and early modern civilization). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, c1992. (x, 351 p.: ill.)
LC#: HQ1058.5.E97 U66 1992; ISBN: 0472102575
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[One of the essays in Gene A. Brucker's book is a useful
general introduction to Alessandra Strozzi. Brucker translates
parts of some letters not available in Gregory or Crabb. (See the
book's table of contents online.):]
Brucker, Gene A. Living on the edge in Leonardo's Florence: selected
essays. Berkeley: University of California Press, c2005. (xxvi,
211 p.: maps)
LC#: DG737.55 .B839 2005; ISBN: 0520241347
Note Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-194) and index
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[Mia Cocco's 9-page entry on Strozzi in this reference work
discusses the letters against the background of 1400s Florentine
life. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Italian women writers: a bio-bibliographical sourcebook /
edited by Rinaldina Russell. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press,
1994. (xxxi, 476 p.).
LC#: PQ4063 .I88 1994; ISBN: 0313283478
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[Maria Luisa Doglio's essay in this history briefly discusses Alessandra's letters --- their structure and goals (See the book's table of contents online.):]
A history of women's writing in Italy
/ edited by Letizia Panizza and Sharon Wood. Cambridge [England];
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. (xvi, 361 p.)
LC#: PQ4055.W6 H57 2000; ISBN: 0521570883, 0521578132
Includes bibliographical references (p. 282-350) and index
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[In this older article, Lauro Martines looks at what women's letters reveal about Florentine society; Alessandra Strozzi is its chief focus:]
Martines, Lauro. A way of looking at women in Renaissance
Florence.The Journal of Medieval and Renaissance studies,
4:1 (Spring 1974), 15-28.
LC#: CB351 J78; ISSN: 0047-2573
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[Mark Phillips' study is on Alessandra's son-in-law, the husband of her elder daughter, Caterina; however, Phillips quotes plentifully from letters by and about Alessandra, and gives useful background information on the period. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Phillips, Mark. The memoir of Marco Parenti: a life in Medici
Florence. Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press, 1987. (xiv,
283 p.)
LC#: DG738.14.P37 P45 1987; ISBN: 0691055025
Includes bibliographical references and index
[Also available in a 2005 reprint from Broadview Press: ISBN:
0691008337]
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Updated 04-06-08