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Biccherna Cover
The Biccherna was the magistrate or chancellery of finance from the 13th to the 14th century for the republic and then city of Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy. The records of the office are significant not only because Siena was one of the earliest and most important banking centers of medieval Europe, but also because the books that contain these records were bound with painted leather covers, often made by major artists.Encyclopedia Treccani
entry on Biccherna. These covers tend to display secular subject matter that glorifies the city's government and its citizens. Many of these covers are displayed in the Archives of the State of Siena located in the Palazzo Piccolomini located on via Banchi di Sotto corner via Rinaldini ...
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Siena
Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuries. Siena is also home to the oldest bank in the world, the Monte dei Paschi bank, which has been operating continuously since 1472. Several significant Renaissance painters worked and were born in Siena, among them Duccio, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and Sassetta, and influenced the course of Italian and European art. The University of Siena, originally called ''Studium Senese'', was founded in 1240, making it one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world. Siena was one of the most important cities in medieval Europe, and its historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From January until the end of September of 2021 it had about 217,000 arrivals, with the largest numbers of foreign visitors coming ...
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Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its influence on high culture. It is regarded as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and of the foundations of the Italian language. The prestige established by the Tuscan dialect's use in literature by Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini led to its subsequent elaboration as the language of culture throughout Italy. It has been home to many figures influential in the history of art and science, and contains well-known museums such as the Uffizi and the Palazzo Pitti. Tuscany is also known for its wines, including Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano, Brunello di Montalcino and white Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Having a strong linguisti ...
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Palazzo Piccolomini, Siena
The Palazzo Piccolomini, also known as the Palazzo Todeschini Piccolomini is a Renaissance-style palace in the city of Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy. It is located on the Banchi di Sotto, at the corner with Via Rinaldini; uphill and west of the church of San Martino, the Loggia del Papa, and the Palazzo delle Papesse, which also built by a Piccolomini family member. History The palace was erected by Giacomo and Andrea Piccolomini, nephews of Pope Pius II; the designs were requested from Bernardo Rossellino. Construction proceeded between 1460 and 1495. The palace recalls the Palazzi Medici Riccardi and Ruccellai in Florence, with the rough ashlar block surface and mullioned windows. The sculptural additions were completed by Antonio Federighi and Urbano da Cortona. The palace was bought and refurbished by the Bank of Italy in 1884. The Piano Nobile received some neo-Renaissance frescoes in the 19th century. The architect was Augusto Corbi. It now serves as a contempora ...
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Giovanni Di Paolo
Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia (''c.'' 1403–1482) was an Italian painter, working primarily in Siena, becoming a prolific painter and illustrator of manuscripts, including Dante's texts. He was one of the most important painters of the 15th century Sienese School. His early works show the influence of earlier Sienese masters, but his later style was more individual, characterized by cold, harsh colours and elongated forms. His style also took on the influence of International Gothic artists such as Gentile da Fabriano. Many of his works have an unusual dreamlike atmosphere, such as the surrealistic ''Miracle of St. Nicholas of Tolentino'' painted about 1455 and now housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, while his last works, particularly ''Last Judgment, Heaven, and Hell'' from about 1465 and ''Assumption'' painted in 1475, both at Pinacoteca Nazionale (Siena), are grotesque treatments of their lofty subjects. Giovanni's reputation declined after his death but was revived in ...
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Francesco Di Giorgio
Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439–1501) was an Italian architect, engineer, painter, sculptor, and writer. As a painter, he belonged to the Sienese School. He was considered a visionary architectural theorist—in Nikolaus Pevsner's terms: "one of the most interesting later Quattrocento architects". As a military engineer, he executed architectural designs and sculptural projects and built almost seventy fortifications for the Federico da Montefeltro, Count (later Duke) of Urbino, building city walls and early examples of star-shaped fortifications. Born in Siena, he apprenticed as a painter with Vecchietta. In panels painted for '' cassoni'' he departed from the traditional representations of joyful wedding processions in frieze-like formulas to express visions of ideal, symmetrical, vast and all but empty urban spaces rendered in perspective. He composed an architectural treatis''Trattato di architettura, ingegneria e arte militare'' the third of the Quattrocento, ...
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Pope Pius II
Pope Pius II ( la, Pius PP. II, it, Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini ( la, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus, links=no; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in August 1464. He was born at Corsignano in the Sienese territory of a noble but impoverished family. He was a Renaissance humanist, famous as an author in Latin before he became pope. His longest and most enduring work is the story of his life, the ''Commentaries'', which is the only revealed autobiography ever to have been written by a reigning pope. This was only published in 1584. Early life Aeneas was born to Silvio, a soldier and member of the House of Piccolomini, and Vittoria Forteguerri, who had 18 children including several twins, though most died at a young age. He worked with his father in the fields for some years and at age 18 left to study at the universities of Siena and Florence. He settled in the f ...
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Pandolfo Petrucci
Pandolfo Petrucci (14 February 1452 – 21 May 1512) was a ruler of the Italian Republic of Siena during the Renaissance. Biography Born and raised in Siena, a member of an aristocratic family, Petrucci was exiled from his home in 1483 for being a member of the city's Noveschi political faction, which had fallen out of favor with the rulers of Siena. When the Noveschi returned to prominence, Petrucci became their chief and returned to Siena in 1487. He later became captain of the city guard in 1495. Rise to power When his brother Giacoppo (one of Siena's most powerful residents) died in 1497, Petrucci assumed all of his offices and seized control of his fortune. His power and wealth increased even further with his marriage to Aurelia Borghese, daughter of the powerful Niccolò Borghese. With his father-in-law's backing, Petrucci assumed a number of public offices and gained a vast amount of political power. He subsequently used this power to sell public offices or to g ...
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Porta Fontebranda
Porta can refer to: People * Porta (rapper) (born 1988), stagename of Christian Jiménez Bundo, a Spanish rap singer * Bernardo Porta (1758–1829), Italian composer active in France * Bianca Della Porta (born 1991), Canadian ice hockey and rugby player * Carlo Porta (1775–1821), Italian poet in the Milanese dialect * Costanzo Porta (1528–1601), Italian composer of the Renaissance * Giacomo della Porta (1532–1602), Italian sculptor and architect * Giambattista della Porta (1535–1615), Neapolitan physician and playwright * Giovanni Porta (1675–1755), Italian composer * Hugo Porta (born 1951), Argentine rugby union footballer * Livio Dante Porta (1923–2003), Argentine engineer * Luigi Porta (1800–1875), Italian surgeon * Miquel Porta (born 1957), Spanish epidemiologist and scholar * Richard Porta (born 1983), Uruguayan Australian footballer Places * La Porta, a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica * Porta (Barcelona) a neighbourhoo ...
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