A short stroll, just one hundred
meters from the Minerbetti Palace
was the antique caffe “Doney”
which was the meeting spot of
the English: “passing
through or residents - and they
were many - who came from the
villas or from the hillside
every day into the city at the
sacred hour of tea...”
Origins of the Minerbetti
dinasty in Florence.
And among the famous clients
of the caffe Doney, the Minerbetti,
who had already taken on the
aspect of the Florentines even
though they were English –
at least in origin – were
the Minerbetti. It was just
before the ‘200 when they
arrived in the city of Dante,
fleeing from England, when one
of their family, the Archbishop
of Canterbury Thomas Becket
was assassinated in his cathedral.
The Becket family decided on
exile and a member of the family,
not exactly the principal, chose
Florence, hence this “minor”
Becket became Minerbetti. The
family purchased a home on the
Via della Vigna Nuova, near
the home of the Rucellai, and
following that, -- it was the
50's in the XV century –
they transferred to the house
on the corner of Via del Parione
and Via dei Legnaioli, today
named Via de’ Tornabuoni.
At that time, the street was
very narrow, and it was enlarged
to give room to the square where
the Buondelmonti Palace and
the Spini Palace had their entrance,
followed shortly after by the
Bartolini Salimbeni Palace.
Between 1300 and 1700
The Minerbetti family were peace
loving and dedicated themselves
to the maintenance of peace.
Andrea Minerbetti, Gonfaloniere
of Justice in 1434, when Cosimo
the Elder returned from exile
in Venice, declared that whoever
generated the conflict with
the Medici should be removed
(...). Another Minerbetti who
occupied an important role in
the city was Giovanni Minerbetti.
In 1560, he was Ambassador to
the court of Spain under Cosimo
I de’ Medici. Thirty three
Priors and twelve Standard Bearers:
it is a number to be proud of.
The Minerbetti can also be found
in prestigious positions of
public administration even when,
at the end of the reign of the
Medici, the Lorena era started.
The Minerbetti family existed
until 1771 but had no male heirs
to their dynasty. The Palace
on the via de’ Tornabuoni
maintained its simple characteristics
during the century. Of solid
construction, a powerful aspect
with its eight windows for each
of its three stories, on the
right, an arched entranceway,
today closed, which was a passage
way along the via de’
Tornabuoni which continues to
be a colorful and exclusive
avenue.
