The Pazzi Beyond the Conspiracy
6 June 2025
The Medici Archive Project – Palazzo Alberti, Florence
What’s in—or behind—a name? For the Pazzi of Florence, answering this question has often evoked images of the infamous conspiracy of 1478. However, the family’s broader history cannot be defined by this single event. By inviting new discussion about the Pazzi beyond the conspiracy, this conference invites a more complicated and nuanced historical discourse on the family.
Claiming origins in ancient Rome and the First Crusade, the Pazzi rose as Guelph magnates tied to the Angevins, and later cast themselves as cosmopolitan courtiers within political and mercantile networks extending to southern Italy, France, England, Catalonia, Dalmatia, and the Ottoman Empire. After rehabilitation from exile, they counted among their number prolific humanists, poets, politicians, clerics, and knights. In the age of global empire, the mystic Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi became a major saint, and the family name evoked such prestige, even beyond Italy, that it was appropriated by Polish-Lithuanian nobles.
But to what extent can we speak of a non-dynastic family history in the longue durée? Without turning away from the congiura—the historical moment with which the Pazzi are canonically associated—we seek to reconsider the family, its histories, and its mythologies. We invite papers from scholars in various disciplines, including—but not limited to—history; art history; Italian, Neo-Latin and Greek literature; religious studies; and music and performance history.
Some questions we are asking include:
- How were the Pazzi defined and redefined in relation to their many histories?
- How did the Pazzi engage with literature, the visual arts, and performance?
- What is known of the women of the Pazzi family in the Early Modern period?
- What was St. Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi’s relationship to her family and its history? How did her family position themselves with respect to her legacy?
- How did the Pazzi relate to and engage with the world beyond Florence (culturally, politically, and religiously)? How were they seen from outside of Tuscany?
- What was the extent of the family’s activities – political and cultural – before the Quattrocento? What were the forms of continuity with this period? What were the ruptures?
- How did propaganda and mythology—as well as anachronism and nostalgia—shape the family’s identity both from within and from the outside?
- How did exile and damnatio memoriae define their legacy? How were they rehabilitated upon their return to Florence?
Please submit an abstract (200 words maximum) with a short CV to education@medici.org. The deadline for proposals is 3 March 2025. By 1 April 2025, those who have made submissions will be contacted regarding their proposals. Papers should be in English or Italian, and last no more than 20 minutes. The conference will take place at the Medici Archive Project in Palazzo Alberti, Florence, on Friday 6 June 2025.
Contributions will be published in a volume on the Pazzi family.
Organizers: Emma Iadanza (Courtauld Institute), Max Hernandez (Johns Hopkins University)
