1984. The Florentine Diamond
(picture of a replica probable obtained through original designs)
1984. June
Notes for a Conference of Franco Torrini to Lions Club Pietrasanta.
"THE FLORENTINE A DISAPPEARED DIAMOND "
Among the famous diamonds both for their exceptional beauty and for their adventurous vicissitudes, one in particular is linked to Italy: the "Fiorentino".
In his story, of course. And then for the fact that some years ago were just Italian scholars, including Tarchiani and Aloisi, shed light, with a conclusive documentation, on some of the questions that punctuate the life of this "grand et isquisito giant" 137.27 carats. Because of them, there is no need to gallop imagination to fill the void that preceded and also followed the purchase of diamond by the Medici, the Lords of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
The following is, therefore, the real story of the "Fiorentino" as well as you could read in a history book. A story which lacks, however, as we shall see, the word end.
Florence, city of diamonds
The Medici more than any other princely family, joined by the passion for art that for gemstones, particularly diamonds. Not for nothing the latter were hired by several Lords of the Duchy as a symbol of the emblem. So, what of Cosimo the Elder and his brother Lorenzo consisted of three diamonds mounted on three gold rings intertwined, while that of Lorenzo the Magnificent was a diamond that carried three "pens" (red, turquoise, and white) and the motto "Semper".
These emblems we find as ornamental motifs in many Florentine monuments of the times of the Medici: in the chapel Uccellai Alberti, in the floor of the Laurentian, in the friezes of Palazzo Bartolini-Salimbeni, where diamond ring joined three poppies in the base of the Monument to Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, in Piazza San Lorenzo, and many others.
From the inventory of jewels of the State of Tuscany that Anna Maria de 'Medici did compile March 10th, 1740 resulted then, such as the Medici, in about three centuries, had taken up the figure-record of 3.900 diamonds between large and small, to be held in chests or adorn precious jewels, buckles, buttons, swords. Particular interest because of their rarity have diamonds engraved. You can admire beautiful specimens in the Collection of Gems at the Museo degli Argenti in Florence.
In the name "Fiorentino" a tribute to the Medici
But by far the most famous diamond in the Inventory is, without doubt, the "Fiorentino", whose light lemon pale, almost a beam of sunlight at dawn, for many years shone on the scions of the family 'de Medici .
It was Ferdinand I in 1601, to buy the diamond by the Portuguese Don Ludovico Castro, Count of Montesanto, and his wife, woman Mexia de Noronha. She had had inherited from an ancestor who, governor of the realm of Indian Narsinga, famous for its beautiful diamonds, was made to yield what was then called the "Fiorentino" in honor of the Medici.
The purchase contract, a authentic copy of which is preserved in the State Archive of Florence, was concluded October 12th. According to it, Ferdinand I undertook to pay 35,000 crusaders portuguese crowns to Jesuits who had deposited in a convent in Rome.
Already since then, a diamond so exceptional represented, as well as a treasure trove of art, a large financial investment, a kind of insurance against bad times.
But another bond unites the "Fiorentino" to the Medici: Cosimo II was to get it cut double rose. Its shape is very special because along the crown were cut of nine facets. So, it looked like from the inside of the diamond will come out nine different rays of light, in addition to the glitter of other wonderful 126 facets.
We also know the name of the cutter, a certain Pompeo Stupendoli who worked in the workshop that the Medici had established in Florence for the cutting of precious stones and gems.
The work was completed October 28th 1615. Most probably Cosimo II did set the diamond in the beautiful necklace with 45 large diamonds described in the Inventory.
An exceptional good luck charm for a Queen
The "Fiorentino" seems to have brought much luck to its owners; in particular, to Maria Theresa of Austria, the great Queen who dominated the politics of the Hapsburg Empire in the second half of the eighteenth century.
The "Fiorentino" came, it seems, to Maria Teresa on the occasion of his marriage to Francis of Lorraine which had fallen in love since childhood: he fifteen, her seven. Even at that tender age the two intertwined a delicate love story that would hold the remote and bringing a thousand tests, February 12th, 1736, at the wedding. A marriage cheered, over the years, from sixteen children.
As for the "Fiorentino", appeared triumphant on several occasions and frames, now on the crown and the Habsburg Empress broche, now on the buckle for the hat of the Emperor, and formed the most ... brilliant demonstration of affection that united the couple.
An unresolved enigma
In November of 1918, the defeat of the Habsburgs, the crown jewels of Austria took the road of exile, in Switzerland, behind the Emperor Charles. Set off even the "Fiorentino" and, since then, they have gone missing, perhaps sold, lost or perhaps, as someone says, stolen from an intimate and Habsburg brought, along with other gems of the crown jewels, in South America .