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I left Francesco, son of Francesco, the apothecary, at the sign of the Sun, who gave me, the sixth year, the salary of fifty florins, and I joined company with Spinello, son of Lorenzo, the hope of gaining more causing me to give up the gain which was sure. And we opened an apothecary's shop in the Mercato Vecchio (Old Market), at the sign of the King, which had formerly been the shop of a second-hand dealer, and had a very low roof. We raised the roof, and spent a fortune although I was unwilling to outlay so much. All was done without stint, one cupboard alone costing 50 gold florins. Seeing that the costs were so great, and that the said Spinelli had no money to produce, being very badly off, and considering besides that I had already spent 200 gold florins of my own, whilst he had not yet contributed a penny, although we had agreed to go shares.
And on the 27th July, 1463, we (i.e., Landucci and Spinello) agreed to separate, I telling him that I would leave him everything in the shop as it stood, without considering the cost, but that I must have my share of the profits, namely, 50 gold florins, for the time I had been with him, and he must repay me the money which I had put into it. And no agents were required. He replied that it should be so; but that I must give him a few months' time; and to this I agreed, as he gave me sufficient sureties, amounting to 200 gold florins, paid by his brother Lorenzo and Maestro Lorenzo, son of Maestro Leonardo.
I left there (the apothecarium) on the 10th December, 1463, and began chaffering for the shop of San Pulinari; but we could not come to terms over it.
Andrea del Verrocchio works on the lavabo of the Old Sacristy in San Lorenzo, Florence.
Andrea del Verrocchio executes the funerary monument to Cosimo de' Medici for the crypt under the altar of San Lorenzo.
A young woman, who was the daughter of Zanobi Gherucci, was tried, for having killed, and then thrown into a well, the little girl of Bernardo della Zecca, a goldsmith, for the sake of stealing a pearl necklace and certain silver ornaments that the child wore round her neck. She was taken away in the executioner's cart, and was beheaded.
There passed through Florence a son of Don Ferante, King of Naples, on his way to Milan to fetch the daughter of the Duke of Milan to be wedded to his brother. This lad was twelve or thirteen years old; he was made much of, and was lodged at Santa Maria Novella. And afterwards he returned through Florence with the bride, accompanied by many signori and dukes, with a large troop of horse; and besides other things, there were so many damsels and matrons in his train that it was magnificent. And at this time a man was found coining false money, and he was beheaded.
There was an election in the Palagio, and Niccolo Soderini became Gonfaloniere. He reduced the tax on wine to 14 soldi, for which the people called down blessings on his head.
During the night the Arno began to be in flood, although there had not been a drop of rain but the snow had melted suddenly, so that the river entered the town and flooded it as far as the Canto a Monteloro, and benches from the Church of Santa Croce floated across to that point.
And the water went into the Piazza del Grano, reaching more than half-way up the door of the apothecary's shop and past the Palagio del Podesta. The river overflowed its banks opposite Messer Bongianni's houses, and filled the Prato and the Via della Scala. Many mules and horses were drowned in their stables, and all the wine-casks went floating about, mostly towards the Arno. This flood had come suddenly.
A Saturday and the eve of the Spirito Santo, I was wedded to a daughter of Domenico, son of Domenico Pagni, whose name was Salvestra. She had a dowry of 400 florins, in the state funds, praise God!
A Sunday evening, I gave her the ring, the contract being made before Ser Giovanni, son of Francesco di Neri.
(Because of a falling out with Spinello) I therefore repaired to Giovanni da Bruscoli, who was opening the shop of the Agnus-Dei, and who gave me 36 florins a year, so that I was able to buy the shop of the Tornaquinci, on the 1st September, 1466.
On this day a parlamento (assembly) was held in the Piazza, and there was a great commotion in the city; the shops were closed several times, for fear that they might be looted. Niccolo Soderini, Messer Dietisalvi, and Messer Luca Pitti were exiled, for having been the leaders in the plot against Piero, son of Cosimo de' Medici, when it was attempted to murder him in his way from Careggi. And after the failure of the plot, many citizens connected with it were exiled, about twenty-seven of them being restricted within certain boundaries and made ineligible for office, according to the sentences inscribed on a document inserted in this book; except Messer Luca Pitti, who made an alliance with Giovanni Tornabuoni, giving him his daughter as wife, and in consequence he was reprieved from exile, and they remained friends and at peace.
The Tribunale della Mercanzia, the judicial organ of the Guilds in Florence, commissions from Andrea del Verrocchio a bronze group portraying Christ and St. Thomas for the centre tabernacle.
Leonardo da Vinci is sent to Florence to work as apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio.
No agents
Landucci, Luca, trans. Alice de Rosen Jervis, J.M. Dent & Sons, 1927. "A Florentine Diary", p. 9.
Andrea del Verrocchio is contracted to make a golden ball (palla) to be placed on top of the lantern of Brunelleschi's cupola on the Duomo in Florence.
Andrea del Verrocchio makes a bronze candlestick (1.57 metres high) for Signoria of Florence.
At about 15 in the morning (11 a.m.) we had the news that peace(1) was concluded. It was celebrated with bonfires, and the shops were closed.
(1) Alamanno Rinuccini (Ricordi, etc. Firenze, 1840), says that the news of the universal peace amongst all the powers of Italy, pronounced by the Pope two days previously, reached Florence at 13 ore (9 a.m.) on the 27th April.
Eight men were taken in the hangman's cart to be hung, because they had intended to give over Castiglioni di Marradi(1).
(1) This rebellion was raised by the Signori of Forli and Faenza.
Giovanni Bellini receives his first appointment to work along with his brother and other artists in the Scuola di San Marco, where among other subjects he is commissioned to paint a Deluge with Noah's Ark.
Fifteen men were brought from Prato, who had intended to give over the place, and they were hung(1).
(1) This was the plot of Bernardo Nardi.