FROM THE
FOURTEENTH CENTURY TO THE RENAISSANCE
Towards
the end of the 13th century and in the early 14th century the
contrasts between the popolo minuto-middle and lower middle classes-
and the popolo grasso-wealthy merchants-were accentuated. The
latter had a firm grip on the power, but in the 14th century the
popolo minuto tried several times to broaden the democratic base
of the government by increasing the participation of the Arti
minori in the government. In 1378, under the impulse of a movement
set in motion by the proletariat, the popolo grasso were obliged
to accept an institutional reform which provided for the constitution
of new Guilds; Tintori, Farsettai, Dyers, Corseteers and Ciompi,
corresponding to the most humble activities and the workers.But
due to internal divergent interests and an incapacity to govern,
these guilds were unable to withstand the reaction of the large
merchant middle classes which soon once more took over power.
The rivalry between two noble families resulted in much dissension
and led to the formation of two antagonistic groups of political
factions to be known as Neri and Bianchi or Blacks and Whites.
The former were generally exponents of the newcomers with easy
profits and grouped together the representatives of the old noble
classes and the most intransigent Guelphists. The two parties
took turns at the priorate in the last decade of the 13th century
but from then on the conflict intensified. The Priors were forced
to exile the heads of the two factions, and the situation precipitated.
The Neri invoked the intervention of the pope who sent as his
peacemaker Charles of Valois, the brother of Philip Le Belle,
king of France. He openly favored the Neri, and even had the heads
of the Bianchi arrested and forced those who were most compromised,
including
Dante
Alighieri
, into exile.
In addition to these internal struggles, the city had also to
sustain the onerous burden of the wars against the powerful Ghibelline
signorias of the Visconti and the Scaligeri, joined by the Pisans
and the Luccans. Two serious defeats, one in 1315 and the other
ten years later, induced Florence first to ask for the protection
of the Angevin troops and then to place themselves under the direct
dominion of Charles, duke of Calabria, of the house of Anjou.
The death of the duke in 1327 unexpectedly restored its freedom
to the Florentine Commune. But it did not end there.A new attempt
to take over Pisa and Lucca failed miserably. The Florentines,
defeated by the Ghibelline forces under the leadership of the
lord of Verona, Martino della Scala in 1339, were once more forced
to ask King Robert for aid. This resulted in a brief tyranny until
the people, tired of violence and abuses of power, threw out the
tyrant and restored the civic liberties.
During the 14th century, internal strife and wars were aggravated
by famine and epidemics, particularly the deadly plague of 1348,
which aggravated a situation that was already precarious. Further
damage was caused by the disastrous flood of 1333 which also swept
away all the bridges over the Arno except the Rubaconte. The 14th
century was therefore a century of political and economic crisis,
it was a period of decisive juncture common to all Western economies.
The crisis was also reflected in the city's architectural activity
which continued at a much slower pace than before. Building activity
turned first of all to finishing the great undertakings of the
end of the 13th century (the walls, the cathedral, the Palazzo
della Signoria, the large monastic complex) and to reconstructing
the bridges which had been destroyed. The first of these to be
rebuilt, between 1334 and 1337, was the Ponte alla Carraia, apparently
after a design by Giotto. The reconstructions of the other bridges,
from the Ponte Vecchio on, were based on this bridge. The Ponte
Vecchio was built by Taddeo Gaddi in three sweeping arches with
a road much wider than before. After the impressive expansion
of the 13th century, the city began to take shape and what might
be called a real town planning policy attempted to provide the
buildings with some degree of order and regularity. Throughout
the 14th century one provision after another was taken in an effort
to broaden the streets or modify their routes and to tear down
ramshackle buildings or those with structures which impeded traffic.
Naturally the Commune's first obligations were in the reorganization
of the city's principal piazzas, Piazza della Signoria and Piazza
del Duomo, and streets. As can often still be seen, the buildings
from that period have a facade with rough-hewn blocks of pietraforte
at least in the bottom part, and a series of regular arches in
correspondence to the ground floor. The typical "Florentine"
arch consisted of a roundheaded or flat intrados and a slightly
pointed extrados.