Legge contro a chi rimovesse o violasse Armi, Inscrizioni, o Memorie esistenti apparentemente nelli Edifizi così publici come privati

This historic edict was approved in Florence in the Senate and Council of the 48; the Florentine Senate, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany’s highest deliberative and legislative body, had been instituted by the Medici Pope Clement VII in 1532.

The cinquecentina’s frontispiece bears the Medici coat of arms topped by a crown: just two years earlier, in 1569, Cosimo I de Medici had managed to secure the title of Grand Duke, choosing a crown with a red lily and radial, points showing Orientalist influences, inspired by the crowns of the biblical kings David and Solomon.

The law of Cosimo I and of his regent son Francesco I laid down punishments and fines of 2,000 golden scudi against anyone who altered, removed, or concealed inscriptions or historical memories from public and private buildings. This first law protecting the ornamentation and splendour of buildings was part of a precise grand ducal strategy aimed at consolidating its power.

In Florence at that time, many building façades displayed family coats of arms. However, when a family purchased a palazzo, it was customary to remove any crests and symbols belonging to rival families. The Florentine oligarchy foresightedly understood that protecting the “armi ed inscritioni” of ancient families also meant protecting the political stability of their own aristocratic houses.

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was the first legal system in the pre-Unification states to issue a provision aimed at preserving historical memory, as a reminder to those who erected buildings, towers, palazzi, loggias, etc…; this primacy in preservation was consolidated with the proclamation on 24 October 1602, by Cosimo I’s son Grand Duke Ferdinando I, of Italy’s first law protecting and restricting the exportation of artistic heritage.

The text of the law bears the name of the Medici advisor Paolo Vinca, although the crier Domenico Barlacchia, a famed and lively promoter of the Medici court, is cited. In the 16th century, laws were declaimed by criers in public squares so that everyone might become acquainted with them; in this case, they were also published, bearing witness to the desire to broadcast this edict to the greatest possible extent.

The law was printed in Florence by the Marescotti family which, in 1570, had succeeded the Torrentino family at the leadership of the grand ducal printing house, taking over the business lease. Even the establishment of a grand ducal press was part of a policy of cultural hegemonization: the Torrentinos and then the Marescottis were awarded a strict monopoly on book publishing in Tuscany through the payment of a fee of 500 golden scudi per year – although there was the clear political desire to monitor all the books that were published and that at any rate had to secure the Grand Duke’s license in order to go into print.