Frescobaldi
Encyclopedia
The Frescobaldi are a prominent Florentine
noble family that have been involved in the political, sociological, and economic history of Tuscany
since the Middle Ages
;. Originating in the Val di Pesa in the Chianti
, they appear holding important posts in Florence in the twelfth century. In the struggles of Guelfs and Ghibellines the family was split between the Guelf factions of Bianchi and Neri, of whom only the Bianchi remained in Florence.
From an early economic base in the Italian community of cloth merchants in Bruges
, the Frescobaldi expanded their banking interests to their home city of Florence
in the 13th century. Their power base in the city's affairs lay in their participation in the small network that controlled the great cloth-working Arti
: the Arte della Lana
, the Arte di Calimala
, the guild of cloth finishers and merchants in foreign cloth, and the Cambio, or money exchange. In Florence the Frescobaldi found themselves on the wrong side in the attempted power coup of the Grandi in 1343 and were henceforth barred from public service in the Republic, but the Frescobaldi remained prominent in the lesser offices still open to them, such as podestà
in the small towns governed from Florence, and through the web of marriage connections among the Florentine ruling class.
As bankers, the Frescobaldi financed ventures for numerous members of European royal families, notably their financial conquest of England, which Fernand Braudel
has signalled as the greatest achievement of the Florentine firms, "not only in holding the purse-strings of the kings of England, but also in controlling sales of English wool which was vital to continental workshops and in particular to the Arte della Lana
of Florence." In the 1270s the Frescobaldi opened an office in London and began financing the wars of King King Edward I
, eventually supplanting the pioneering Riccardi of Lucca, who were driven to bankruptcy by unpaid loans made to Edward. The Frescobaldi were receivers of the customs
of England from 1307, and also served as papal tax gatherers in England, helping to finance the Crusades
. With the king's death in 1307, leaving a debt to all creditors that amounted to £30,000 Amedeo de' Frescobaldi continued in the favoured but dangerous position under Edward II
; with the fall of Walter Langton
, the royal treasurer, at the outset of the new reign, the bishop's debtors, many of them Italians, were instructed to render their debts to Frescobaldi; in 1309 he was granted all the wool customs from Ireland and Scotland. The barons' pressure against the influence of foreigners in the king's affairs, exemplified most prominently against the Gascon favourite, Piers Gaveston
, swept up Frescobaldi, who at the time of the Ordinances of 1311
was ordered to tally up his accounts by October, and was arrested and all his goods seized. Frescobaldi fled England, first to Papal Avignon
and then to Florence. The royal debt was never repaid, and together with other reverses in the economic downturn of the 14th century, led to the bankruptcy of the Frescobaldi.
A second Frescobaldi bankruptcy, in 1581, Braudel traces to the general movement of capital and trade to the North.
Vittorio Frescobaldi (full name: Vittorio Frescobaldi Franceschi Marini), and his brothers, the Marquis Ferdinando de' Frescobaldi Franceschi Marini and Leonardo de' Frescobaldi Franceschi Marini. The Frescobaldi family operates the wine
producer Marchesi de' Frescobaldi and is behind the Laudemio brand of Italian olive oil
.
painter Michelangelo
. The family also supplied wine to Henry VIII
; surviving contracts in the family archives are signed by the English king.
The agronomist
Vittorio degli Albizi was an in-law
of the Frescobaldi family through the marriage of his sister Leonida to Angiolo Frescobaldi; with Frescobaldi financing he was able to pioneer modern wine production
techniques in Tuscany. In 1855, Albizi introduced Chardonnay
, Cabernet and Merlot
vines to the region.
"2001 Wine of the Year" Ornellaia
. Following the acquisition of Mondavi by Constellation Brands
in December 2004, the Frescobaldi family has been attempting to gain full control of the Tuscan ventures. In March 2005, the family was able to acquire control of Luce della Vite and Ornellaia in April 2005.
. The wine producer was suspected of importing grapes from outside the Tuscan region and labelling them as "Tuscan grown" for benefits of DOC & DOCG
appellation
labeling. In 2008 Frescobaldi was implicated in an investigation involving fraudulent Brunello di Montalcino
wine of the 2003 vintage in a scandal termed Brunellopoli
by Italian newspapers. Although offered an out-of-court settlement, Marchesi de' Frescobaldi has opted go to court to clear its name of the allegations.
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
noble family that have been involved in the political, sociological, and economic history of Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
since the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
;. Originating in the Val di Pesa in the Chianti
Chianti
Chianti is a red Italian wine produced in Tuscany. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a fiasco ; however, the fiasco is only used by a few makers of the wine now; most Chianti is now bottled in more standard shaped wine bottles...
, they appear holding important posts in Florence in the twelfth century. In the struggles of Guelfs and Ghibellines the family was split between the Guelf factions of Bianchi and Neri, of whom only the Bianchi remained in Florence.
From an early economic base in the Italian community of cloth merchants in Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
, the Frescobaldi expanded their banking interests to their home city of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
in the 13th century. Their power base in the city's affairs lay in their participation in the small network that controlled the great cloth-working Arti
Guilds of Florence
The guilds of Florence were secular corporations that controlled the arts and trades in Florence from the twelfth into the sixteenth century. These Arti included seven major guilds , five middle guilds and nine minor guilds...
: the Arte della Lana
Arte della Lana
The Arte della Lana was the wool guild of Florence during the Late Middle Ages and in the Renaissance. It was one of the seven greater Arti of Florence, separate from the Arti Minori...
, the Arte di Calimala
Arte di Calimala
The Arte di Calimala, the guild of the cloth finishers and merchants in foreign cloth, was one of the greater guilds of Florence, the Arti Maggiori, who arrogated to themselves the civic power of the Republic of Florence during the Late Middle Ages...
, the guild of cloth finishers and merchants in foreign cloth, and the Cambio, or money exchange. In Florence the Frescobaldi found themselves on the wrong side in the attempted power coup of the Grandi in 1343 and were henceforth barred from public service in the Republic, but the Frescobaldi remained prominent in the lesser offices still open to them, such as podestà
Podestà
Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state , but also as a local administrator, the representative of the Emperor.The term derives from the Latin word potestas, meaning power...
in the small towns governed from Florence, and through the web of marriage connections among the Florentine ruling class.
As bankers, the Frescobaldi financed ventures for numerous members of European royal families, notably their financial conquest of England, which Fernand Braudel
Fernand Braudel
Fernand Braudel was a French historian and a leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects, each representing several decades of intense study: The Mediterranean , Civilization and Capitalism , and the unfinished Identity of France...
has signalled as the greatest achievement of the Florentine firms, "not only in holding the purse-strings of the kings of England, but also in controlling sales of English wool which was vital to continental workshops and in particular to the Arte della Lana
Arte della Lana
The Arte della Lana was the wool guild of Florence during the Late Middle Ages and in the Renaissance. It was one of the seven greater Arti of Florence, separate from the Arti Minori...
of Florence." In the 1270s the Frescobaldi opened an office in London and began financing the wars of King King Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
, eventually supplanting the pioneering Riccardi of Lucca, who were driven to bankruptcy by unpaid loans made to Edward. The Frescobaldi were receivers of the customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
of England from 1307, and also served as papal tax gatherers in England, helping to finance the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
. With the king's death in 1307, leaving a debt to all creditors that amounted to £30,000 Amedeo de' Frescobaldi continued in the favoured but dangerous position under Edward II
Edward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
; with the fall of Walter Langton
Walter Langton
Walter Langton was a bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and treasurer of England.He was probably a native of Langton West in Leicestershire....
, the royal treasurer, at the outset of the new reign, the bishop's debtors, many of them Italians, were instructed to render their debts to Frescobaldi; in 1309 he was granted all the wool customs from Ireland and Scotland. The barons' pressure against the influence of foreigners in the king's affairs, exemplified most prominently against the Gascon favourite, Piers Gaveston
Piers Gaveston
Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall was an English nobleman of Gascon origin, and the favourite of King Edward II of England. At a young age he made a good impression on King Edward I of England, and was assigned to the household of the King's son, Edward of Carnarvon...
, swept up Frescobaldi, who at the time of the Ordinances of 1311
Ordinances of 1311
The Ordinances of 1311 were a series of regulations imposed upon King Edward II by the peerage and clergy of the Kingdom of England to restrict the power of the king. The twenty-one signatories of the Ordinances are referred to as the Lords Ordainers, or simply the Ordainers...
was ordered to tally up his accounts by October, and was arrested and all his goods seized. Frescobaldi fled England, first to Papal Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
and then to Florence. The royal debt was never repaid, and together with other reverses in the economic downturn of the 14th century, led to the bankruptcy of the Frescobaldi.
A second Frescobaldi bankruptcy, in 1581, Braudel traces to the general movement of capital and trade to the North.
Present day
The family is currently headed by marcheseMarquis
Marquis is a French and Scottish title of nobility. The English equivalent is Marquess, while in German, it is Markgraf.It may also refer to:Persons:...
Vittorio Frescobaldi (full name: Vittorio Frescobaldi Franceschi Marini), and his brothers, the Marquis Ferdinando de' Frescobaldi Franceschi Marini and Leonardo de' Frescobaldi Franceschi Marini. The Frescobaldi family operates the wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
producer Marchesi de' Frescobaldi and is behind the Laudemio brand of Italian olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
.
History of wine production
The Frescobaldi family began producing Tuscan wine in 1308 and soon developed a notable client base. In exchange for paintings, the Frescobaldis traded their wine with the Italian RenaissanceItalian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
painter Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
. The family also supplied wine to Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
; surviving contracts in the family archives are signed by the English king.
The agronomist
Agronomist
An agronomist is a scientist who specializes in agronomy, which is the science of utilizing plants for food, fuel, feed, and fiber. An agronomist is an expert in agricultural and allied sciences, with the exception veterinary sciences.Agronomists deal with interactions between plants, soils, and...
Vittorio degli Albizi was an in-law
In-law
In-law may refer to:*Affinity , kinship by marriage, such as a**Mother-in-law**Father-in-law**Brother-in-law**Sister-in-law**Daughter-in-law**Son-in-law**Cousin-in-law**Uncle-in-law**Aunt-in-law**Nephew-in-law**Niece-in-law...
of the Frescobaldi family through the marriage of his sister Leonida to Angiolo Frescobaldi; with Frescobaldi financing he was able to pioneer modern wine production
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
techniques in Tuscany. In 1855, Albizi introduced Chardonnay
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...
, Cabernet and Merlot
Merlot
Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...
vines to the region.
Partnership with Mondavi
In 1995 the Marchesi de' Frescobaldi entered into a joint venture with Robert Mondavi Winery to produce Tuscan wine. The joint venture produced several labels including Danzante, Luce della Vite, and the Wine SpectatorWine Spectator
Wine Spectator is a lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertainment pieces...
"2001 Wine of the Year" Ornellaia
Ornellaia
Tenuta Dell'Ornellaia is an Italian wine producer in the DOC Bolgheri in Toscana, known as a producer of "Super Tuscan" wine. Ornellaia is considered one of Italy's leading Bordeaux-style red wines...
. Following the acquisition of Mondavi by Constellation Brands
Constellation Brands
Constellation Brands, Inc., headquartered in Victor, New York, is the world’s leading wine company with a broad portfolio of widely admired premium brands across the wine, beer and spirits categories.-History and description:...
in December 2004, the Frescobaldi family has been attempting to gain full control of the Tuscan ventures. In March 2005, the family was able to acquire control of Luce della Vite and Ornellaia in April 2005.
Fraud allegations
In 2005, allegations of fraud against Marchesi de' Frescobaldi were investigated by the Italian authorities. The allegations of fraud related to the wine making facility at Castiglione in Val di Pesa and the bottling facility near PontassievePontassieve
Pontassieve is a comune in the Province of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 14 km east of Florence, nearby Fiesole, at the confluence of the Arno and Sieve rivers.-History:...
. The wine producer was suspected of importing grapes from outside the Tuscan region and labelling them as "Tuscan grown" for benefits of DOC & DOCG
Denominazione di Origine Controllata
Denominazione di origine controllata is a quality assurance label for food products, especially wines and various formaggi . It is modelled after the French AOC...
appellation
Appellation
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown; other types of food often have appellations as well...
labeling. In 2008 Frescobaldi was implicated in an investigation involving fraudulent Brunello di Montalcino
Brunello di Montalcino
Brunello di Montalcino is a red Italian wine produced in the vineyards surrounding the town of Montalcino located about 120 km south of Florence in the Tuscany wine region. Brunello, roughly translated as "small dark one" in the local dialect, is the unofficial name of the clone of Sangiovese...
wine of the 2003 vintage in a scandal termed Brunellopoli
Brunellopoli
Brunellopoli is the name given by Italian press for a scandal involving producers of Brunello di Montalcino under suspicion of wine fraud, first reported by Italian wine journalist Franco Ziliani and American wine critic James Suckling of Wine Spectator...
by Italian newspapers. Although offered an out-of-court settlement, Marchesi de' Frescobaldi has opted go to court to clear its name of the allegations.