Adimari

   L’oltracotata schiatta che s’indraca
dietro a chi fugge, e a chi mostra ’l dente
o ver la borsa, com’ agnel si placa.

(Paradiso XVI.115-17)

   The insolent clan that poses as a dragon
at the backs of those who flee, and who
is as meek as a lamb before teeth or purse.

In Cacciaguida’s voice, Dante refers here to the Adimari, who originally came to Florence from Normandy or Gascony. They increased their wealth chiefly through marriages with families like the Ravignani, the Guidi and other nobles. Their arrogance was legendary precisely because Florentines in Dante’s day were (incorrectly) convinced that the Adimari, despite their great wealth and status, were recent nobility and, as such, should have been rather more modest.

The Adimari sided with the Guelphs in 1215 and, after the Ghibelline threat subsided, with the White Guelphs (Dante’s party). That said, one of its branches did side with the Black Guelphs: the Cavicciuli. To that family belonged not only Filippo Argenti but also another dark character, Boccaccino Cavicciuli who, only months after Dante was exiled, claimed that the poet had offended him and therefore requested that he be awarded all of Dante’s confiscated property in damages.

The city agreed and Boccaccino continued to be a loud voice against any decision to let Dante return to Florence in the years that followed. It seems clear that Dante must have been thinking of this branch of the Adimari as he penned these lines.

To the right of this plaque and down a bit is another. It reads: “The famous Loggia degli Adimari Cavicciuli, called La Neghittosa, once stood here.” This was the location of one of the most frequented hang-out areas of the city from the Middle Ages until the 1500s. The spacious loggia, demolished to permit the widening of Calzaiuoli, was called the Neghittosa (the Lazy Loggia) because of the amount of time Florentines would loiter here, hoping to see and be seen. It’s probably no coincidence that the Frascato is within easy walking distance.

In the nineteenth century, the area again became a similar focal point, loaded with taverns for the well-to-do. Via Calzaiuoli was made by linking three narrow streets together. Because the Adimari lived along its entire length from the Piazza del Duomo to Via degli Speziali, that section was called Corso degli Adimari. Two more of their surviving towers flank each corner of the block at Via Calzaiuoli 13.

Finally, you may have noticed a pizzeria called “Dante e Beatrice” to your left. Dante leaves his mark just about everywhere.

Coat of arms of the Adimari family

Coat of arms of the Cavicciuli family