PAZZI

Merchant and banking family of florence, for which there are records from the late 12th century. Members of the family held offices in the government; its bank with several branches was second only to the medici bank. Brunelleschi designed the new palace and built the handsome chapel (both still standing) for Andrea and his eldest son, Jacopo. Piero, another son, was one of the learned men in the city. Their nephew Guglielmo married Bianca, sister of Lorenzo de' Medici. The Pazzi were part of the unsuccessful 1478 conspiracy led by Girolamo Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, against the Pazzi family rivals, the Medici. Giuliano de' Medici was killed, but Lorenzo survived. Disgrace, executions, and confiscation of properties followed for the Pazzi family. Early in the 16th century, however, the Pazzi began to serve in the government again. In later generations two members brought renown. Mary Magdalene de' pazzi, a Carmelite nun, was canonized in 1669. Giangirolamo Pazzi (1681–1743) was a member of several academies, a translator, and the founder of the Società Colombaria.

Bibliography: p. litta, et al., Famiglie celebri italiane, 14v. (Milan 1819–1923) v.11. l. pastor, The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (London-St. Louis 1938–61) 4:300–312, 512–515. Acta Sanctorum May 6:175–348. vespasiano da bisticci, Vite di uomini illustri del secolo XV, ed. p. d'ancona and e. aeschlimann (Milan 1951). f. morandini, "Il conflitto fra Lorenzo … Sisto IV," Archivio-storico italiano 107 (1950) 113–154. a. poliziano, Della congiura dei Pazzi (Padua 1958).

[m. l. shay]