The Gondi

An ancient noble Florentine family recorded as far back as the days of Charlemagne. They were podestà of the Florentine Republic, merchants in woollen and silk-and-gold cloth, gold-beaters and ambassadors under the Medici. The “Compagnia Gondi” had houses not only in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Poland, but also in Constantinople and Calcutta. They held important political offices, above all in Florence and Naples, while in France they occupied positions of the first importance in government under the two queens Caterina and Maria de' Medici. They were closely connected with all the great Florentine and French families.

In Italy, for instance, Giuliano Gondi the Elder, who had the Palazzo in Piazza San Firenze built, took as his first wife Maddalena, daughter of Filippo Strozzi. Elena Gondi, known as Lena, was the mother of Jacopo Salviati, and thus co-parent-in-law to Lorenzo il Magnifico and mother of Maria, who was in turn mother of Cosimo I and of Leo XI.

In France, Antonio, maître d'hôtel to the Duke of Anjou, is remembered for having financed the first voyage of Giovanni da Verrazzano, on which the Bay of New York and Florida were discovered. He married Marie Catherine de Pierre Vive, a figure very close to Caterina de' Medici. Their son Alberto, Duke of Retz, Ambassador and Marshal of France, married Claude Catherine de Clermont Dampierre and was also lord of Versailles. His son Carlo, Marquis of Belle Île, was the husband of Antoinette d'Orléans-Longueville and, like his brother Philippe Emanuel, General of the Galleys.

The family arms are “two spiked maces in the cross of Saint Andrew” on a field of gold, a symbol of our warrior origins, bearing the family motto “Non Sine Labore”. The Gondi hold the ancient title of “Patrizio Fiorentino”, granted by the Florentine Republic in the thirteenth century. They are Marquises, yet they use the ducal coronet conferred upon them by Alfonso, King of Naples.

The Gondi were a family of the first importance in international society. Their standing allowed them to act as patrons to the greatest artists, and they supported the Church and gave it figures of considerable renown: Fra' Marco Gondi received his habit from the hands of Savonarola; Cardinal Pietro Gondi oversaw the works of the Medici chapels with Michelangelo in Florence; and in France Piero Gondi was Bishop of Paris and converted Henry of Navarre, the future Henry IV.

Pietro was buried beside his brother Alberto, counsellor to four French kings, in the Gondi Chapel in the apse of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. Alberto's third son, Philippe Emanuel, lord of Villepreux and Count of Joigny, was appointed Governor General of the Fleet, distinguishing himself in campaigns against the Barbary pirates and at the siege of La Rochelle. He married Marguerite de Silly and chose as tutor to his children the man who would become Saint Vincent de Paul, founder of the Congregation of the Mission for rural apostolate among country people. On his wife's death he took holy orders and entered the Congregation of the Oratory of Jesus. His son Jean-François Paul was the celebrated Cardinal de Retz, who took part in the Fronde against Cardinal Mazarin.

The Gondi have always loved art. Baccio Gondi owned four small panels by Giotto. They were friends of Leonardo da Vinci, who dedicated a drawing in the Codex Atlanticus to Giuliano Gondi, and the Gondi were his executors. It was Giuliano again who brought Giuliano da Sangallo from Naples, and he designed not only the palazzo in Piazza San Firenze but also the chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella that holds Filippo Brunelleschi's wooden Crucifix. They were patrons of Antonio del Pollaiolo, Ghirlandaio and Bronzino, and were in close contact with Michelangelo.

The Gondi distinguished themselves first as warriors, then as merchants, gold-beaters and bankers, holding political and ecclesiastical offices of the greatest consequence in both Italy and France.

Yet alongside all this they always held property in the countryside, together with a particular love and a dream: agriculture. Indeed, at the Tenuta Bossi and Fattoria di Volmiano estates they have always kept holdings at the forefront of production.

They have trialled innovative farming techniques while preserving the tradition and the philosophy that distinguish the Tuscans: a profound faith in the land that gives this splendid region, Tuscany, its identity. From it come products of the greatest excellence, such as the Chianti Rufina DOCG wines and several kinds of extra virgin olive oil, among them the Laudemio.

Skilled farmers and authoritative restorers, the Gondi today distinguish themselves in the stewardship of the family estates: Palazzo Gondi, Tenuta Bossi and Fattoria di Volmiano. While keeping the knowledge of their centuries-old history vividly alive, they develop farming and hospitality activities within them.