Portinari Period

8 THE PORTINARI PERIOD

The story of the Palazzo Portinari Salviati, as it is known today, began as a cluster of houses owned by the Portinari family dating from the end of the 13th century. The Palazzo is located on the Corso di Porta San Piero, an important thoroughfare during the Roman Florentia era up to medieval times. The street is now better known as Via del Corso.

The Portinari family was originally from Fiesole and was forced to move to Florence after that town was conquered by the Florentines in 1125. Ultimately, the Portinari flourished to become one of the most important families in medieval Florence.

Folco di Ricovero Portinari was the purchaser of the Palazzo’s original houses, near the church of Santa Margherita dei Cerchi, in what is today known as the Dante district. Best known as the father of Beatrice, Dante Alighieri’s lifelong muse and inspiration, Folco Portinari made his fortune in banking, and was elected as a city official on several occasions. “A man of great goodness” in Dante’s words, Folco was also a philanthropist who founded the Florentine hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in 1288 and bequeathed much of his fortune to its development after his death. This historically important hospital still serves Florence today.

Generations of bankers

In the 14th century the Portinari heirs continued to enrich themselves, bought large land holdings, and consolidated their social position through a series of marriages that linked them to major Florentine families, such as the Biliotti, the Caponsacchi, the Cavalcanti, the Soderini, and the Strozzi. Starting in the 14th century, the merchant activities of the Portinari developed further in the wool trade and in making loans to the English Crown. In the 15th century some members of the family became entrusted to Cosimo de’ Medici, known as Cosimo Il Vecchio (the Elder). One such Portinari was Bernardo di Sandro who worked for the Medici bank branches in Venice and Bruges, accumulating enormous personal wealth.

Most well-known in Italy among the Portinari of the 15th century was Pigello Portinari, who became director of the Medici bank in Milan and his name became closely associated with Milanese humanism. Another renowned Portinari was Tommaso, Pigello’s brother. Tommaso Portinari, started his career working in the Bank of Bruges, and his prosperity grew so great that in 1472 he was able to make a donation of 700 gold florins to the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova to commission an altarpiece to the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes. Originally created for the main altar of the hospital’s church, it is now preserved in the Uffizi Gallery.

Patrons of Santa Maria Nuova Hospital

With their wealth accumulating from trade and banking, generations of the Portinari were able to contribute significant resources to support the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, beginning with the hospital’s original benefactor, Folco Portinari. The hospital is remarkable for innovating the prototype of the modern medical hospital recognizable today. In medieval times, hospitals mainly provided hospitality to travelers and shelter to the poor and elderly, and occasionally, dispensed food to those in need. There was basic nursing but no substantial medical treatment. In the first 50 years of Santa Maria Nuova’s existence, the hospital began to provide “the good service of the poor and sick” and eventually, no longer to just the poor, with several resident medical specialists and on-call consultants, making Santa Maria Nuova a pioneering model of the modern hospital.

PORTRAIT OF FOLCO PORTINARI by Hans Memling, Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Portinari Altar piece by Hugo Van der Goes, Uffizi Gallery