Gaddi
Item
Country
IT
Name of institution (English)
Laurentian Library
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
ita
Contact information: postal address
Piazza San Lorenzo 9, 50123 Florence
Contact information: phone number
0039 0552937911
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
b-mela@beniculturali.it
Reference number
Gaddi
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (English)
Gaddi
Title (official language of the state)
Gaddi
Language of title
ita
Creator / accumulator
The Gaddi family
Date note
11th century/16th century
Language(s)
ara
gre
heb
ita
lat
Extent
235 volumes
Type of material
Textual Material
Physical condition
Good
Scope and content
The Gaddi fonds comprises manuscript codices of diverse thematics (Religion, Literature, Science, Art, History, Hagiography, Linguistics) gathered by this Florentine family. The collection contains a few Hebrew codices (see codices 111, 131 and 155), including a copy of Isaac Israeli's Yesod olam (The Foundation of the World), handwritten by José Kalomiti, a scribe from Porto (Portugal), in 1496. It is written in Sephardic semicursive script (titles and initial words in square script) and decorated with geometrical motifs. See a detailed description of this manuscript in Moita (2017, vol. 2).
Archival history
In 1755, Emperor Francesco I bought the library belonging to the Gaddi family (already catalogued by Giovanni Targioni), which comprised more than 1,000 manuscripts collected during the previous four centuries. It was divided between the Archivio delle Reformagioni, the Laurenziana and the Magliabechiana, although the librarian Angelo Maria Bandini, in office from 1757 to 1803, had suggested giving the whole collection to the newly opened Biblioteca Marucelliana.
Administrative / Biographical history
The Gaddi was a Florentine family dedicated to commerce and banking that occupied a leading role in the Republic and later Grand Duchy's political and cultural life. Sinibaldo Gaddi (1499-1558) was a member of the Signoria of Florence and later a senator, who continued the family tradition of culture and artistic commissioning. His son Niccolò Gaddi (1537-1591) became a known art collector and advisor to the Medici art collections. In a later generation, Iacopo Gaddi was the author of De scriptoribus non ecclesiasticis, graecis, latinis, italicis (1648-49) and a book collector, responsible for enriching the precious collection of books and manuscripts that various generations of the family had gathered since the 15th century. In 1755, the family's library and artworks were acquired by Grand Duke Francesco I.
Access points: locations
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
The volumes are numbered sequentially.
Access, restrictions
Volumes 9, 24, 44, 81, 112 and 115 are normally excluded from direct consultation. Authorization to consult these codices must be submitted by e-mail to the Manuscripts Office (b-mela.manoscritti@beniculturali.it.
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2021
Linked resources
Filter by property
| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana | Collections (official language of the state) |