A pair of close examples involving the importance of information and its transit may be found in the letters of Alessandra Strozzi. After the death of Cosimo de Medici, mid-century, there were further losses for the Strozzi family, as well as others. In this turn, the Strozzi banks at Naples had collapsed, petitions for entrance to the city of Florence had to be made for Lorenzo in secret, and with coded numbers to conceal names, and a moratorium on debts had been declared. Alessandra wrote in January, "Ed e vero che gran rovina ci e stata." 'It's true there's been a great ruin."
There was news in these letters, as she heard it and assimilated it, some analysis, some advice. There was praise for some and shame for others. There was the failure of the bank that Ludovico Strozzi worked in Naples as well as the company in Florence that Giovanfrancesco, another family member, apparently managed. Alessandra reassured that Ludovico's family could stay rich, only losing their reputation. Giovanfresco remained in much debt and needed to do right by certain creditors or he might be declared a rebel and condemned to death in absentia.
Meanwhile Lorenzo, her middle son, needed to return to Florence, but as an exile he had to wait for permission for safe-passage. Kept waiting far south of town at San Quirico on the road from Siena, she could show her impatience waiting in Florence. Petitions for friends of the Strozzi, on the Council of One Hundred, had been drawn up and delivered to the appropriate people. She felt she could list these only by pre-arranged number.
The matter of continued exile for her son, this prominent member of the Strozzi family was deemed so important at this time, and obstructing him from re-entering Florence soil so sensitive, that the family needed and had gained letters of favor from King Ferrante of Naples himself. These in addition to friends in Florence, Filippo could be grateful for, since, the night before, permission had been granted for Lorenzo to enter and come as close as the city walls and stay through the month of March.
Mention is made in January of different batches of letters from different people and different times. One can imagine Alessandra at a desk reading these through her spectacles. At one point she complains that at 4pm the servant from Rome has not yet arrived. Sometimes the mail carrier was late.
But from the letter dated February 7 she can confirm that a temporary reprieve for Lorenzo had been permitted and she looked forward to see him as early as the 9th. She says ambassadors from Florence are going to Naples and Milan and that Filippo should give presents to those that make the journey to Naples.
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from pp. 123-31, translated with notes by Heather Gregory: Selected Letters of Alessandra Strozzi : Bilingual Edition, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997
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