Politica e spettacolo a Firenze: la festa cavalleresca al tempo degli Albizzi (1382-1434)

Abstract

The study of the theatre in Florence between the XIV and XV century highlights the picture of a society in which the spectacle was one of the languages developed and imposed by the élites in power to say, at the family level and the consortium, their preeminence and political and cultural hegemony. If, however, commissions and plots among families and clans were promptly taken into examination for the Medici period, little has been done for the previous political season. This paper aims to bridge this gap by showing, through a careful analysis of the sources – some of which unexplored from this point of view –, that in the exact period between 1382 and 1434 was developed the first lexicon of a policy of the spectacle focused on the staging of chivalry. As a matter of fact, during the Albizzi period, spectacular promotions, alongside other forms of sponsorship, played an important role in supporting the building of political consensus not meant as a general relationship between theatre and power, but as an accurate study of the related mechanisms. For more than three decades, ceremonies and chivalric staging were a reflection on stage of the public relationship patterned among families, especially Albizzi, who ruled the city of Florence after the Ciompi riots.