The book under review is the complete edition of the Capponiera, a work that the author, the courtier and diplomat Girolamo Muzio (1496–1576), wrote in defense of the Florentine aristocrat Ludovico Capponi. This work, held by the Biblioteca Riccardiana of Florence, MS 2139, is published here for the first time. The transcription of Muzio’s text occupies about two-thirds of the book, but is preceded by two scholarly introductions: the first, written by Riccardo Fubini, is largely centered on the author; the second, by Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi, is mainly devoted to the figure of Ludovico Capponi, as it emerges both from Muzio’s work and from the vast archival collection of the Capponi family, which is spread around various Florentine collections.
From a young age, Girolamo Muzio was in the service of bishops, cardinals, and lords of various ranks. During his long career, he wrote extensively on two subjects: on the one hand, religious life (he was active in the period of Reformation and Counter-Reformation); on the other, chivalry (including issues of honor and duels). It was this latter expertise—where he was considered a true authority following in particular the publication of Il Duello (The duel) in 1550—that brought him into the service of Ludovico Capponi and ultimately originated the Capponiera. This work is intended as a memoir in defense of Capponi, who had assaulted (and wounded) the apostolic notary Giulio Curti, who had previously attacked Capponi’s household. Muzio’s defense portrays Ludovico as the ideal chevalier and gentiluomo.
Capponi came from a mercantile family, closely linked to the Medici (Ludovico’s father was among the executors of Pope Leo X), but his wealth had partly vanished. The marriage with Maddalena Vettori, however, brought him great prosperity and made it possible for him to spend lavishly, including as a patron of art. But slowly his relationship with Cosimo de’ Medici, Duke of Florence, who was explicitly against the marriage, deteriorated, while Ludovico was involved in a growing number of lawsuits on various issues (including his uncle’s estate), in addition to the dispute against Curti.
In the proemio (preamble) the work is presented as a (hi)story of “two noble citizens, husband and wife” (75); but if the first book is largely centered on the complicated vicissitudes leading to the marriage, as the story continues Maddalena fades into the background (and, presumably, as Paolozzi Strozzi notes, also from Ludovico’s life [65]). However, as the manuscripts’ catalogue of the Biblioteca Riccardiana rightly points out, “Est historia Ludovici f. Capponii florentini usque ad annum MDLXXII, multiplex quidem ac varia et digna quae legatur, propter plurimas historiae florentinae notitias, quae in ea continetur” (“Lodovico Capponi the Younger’s history until the year 1572 is truly wide-ranging, varied, and worthy of being read due to the great deal of information about the history of Florence that it contains”). That is to say, the Capponiera is much more than the history of the life of a Florentine (and his wife), but is in fact a history of Florence and of Florentine society in the period of consolidation of Cosimo de’ Medici’s power. It is therefore very appropriate that the editors included in the publication footnotes basic information about the many characters that appear in the text (often members of the Florentine elite).
In his work, divided into three books, Muzio often reported events through the use of direct speech: this gives some liveliness to a text that on occasion is hard to follow in its verbosity. Moreover, especially in books 2 and 3, he reproduces copies of past lawsuits or other documents (especially letters), that Capponi had certainly given to Muzio, whom he hosted several times in the last two years of the latter’s life. The introductions provide the necessary context prior to the reading of the Capponiera itself; however, their dense style clearly implies a readership of specialists.
