Peruzzi

Nel picciol cerchio s’entrava per porta
che si nomava da que’ della Pera.

(Paradiso XVI.125-26)

One entered through the small circuit by a postern
that got its name from those of the Della Pera.

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These verses from Cacciaguida’s speech on the good ol’ days of Florence mention the Della Pera family to illustrate the modesty of the citizens and the rapidity with which a once great family could disappear. The old walls from 1078 (picciol cerchio) ran north-south here along the west side of Via del Proconsolo. Near this plaque, there was once a narrow postern, or passageway through the walls, named after the Della Pera family who lived nearby.

The city’s sets of walls grew, one around the other, over several centuries. To belong to a family whose houses stood within the smallest - and therefore earliest - circuit of walls often indicated descent from the city’s original noble families, those who lived here before the disastrous arrival of the bumpkins and nouveaux riches who came from neighboring villages and castles.

That the little gate was called porta peruzza is certain. Though most scholars do not believe it now, people in Dante’s day firmly believed there was a genealogical link between the Della Pera family and the Peruzzi who were very affluent residents of this area during Dante’s lifetime thanks to their banking interests.

Indeed, the Peruzzi possessed numerous houses to the east of here, in the Santa Croce neighborhood. Way back in the 1100, though, they owned property inside the ancient circuit of walls as well. Next to the Bardi family, the Peruzzi constructed the largest banking house Florence had ever seen.

The piazza named after the Peruzzi family, which is really more of a wide street, runs along the south side of what used to be the Roman amphitheater.

Coat of arms of the Peruzzi family