The Memoir of Marco Parenti: A Life in Medici Florence

by Mark Salber Phillips

Book Overview

For this vivid description of the world of a Florentine patrician, Mark Phillips draws on Marco Parenti's private letters, ricordanze or diaries, and public history or memoir. When Cosimo de' Medici died in 1464, Parenti foresaw a return to liberty and began to write a history, but his political hopes and his literary ambitions foundered when the Medici party won a decisive victory over their patrician enemies in 1466. Despite this setback, Parenti's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691008337
• ISBN13: 9780691008332
• Release Date: April 1989
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Excellent memoir and background info.

This doesn't actually have the actual ricordi of Marco Parenti, the son-in-law of Alessandra Strozzi and a diplomat and merchant of Renaissance Florence, which would have been great, but it IS an excellent resource for learning about how one part of Florentine society worked. There are chapters here about his early life, education, and what Florentine politics were like at the middle of the 15th century. Along the way we learn about the Strozzi, the Medici, and a host of other families. We also learn what exile was like, and how letter-writing worked in a world without a post office (also some fun stuff about ciphers). While I definitely wish it included a straight translation of Parenti's personal logbook, this is a tremendous resource. Don't miss it if you're studying the Medicean period at all.