N. 16. - Inscription and coat of arms to commemorate the UBERTI in the first court of Palazzo Vecchio:
Reading edition
O quali vidi quei che son disfatti Per lor superbia! DANTE, Paradiso, XVI, 109–110. How mighty then I saw whom since their pride Hath undone! H. F. Cary’s translation.
The Uberti like the Lamberti are said to have come into Tuscany with Otho the Great about the middle of the tenth century; their houses occupied the ground which now forms the eastern part of the Piazza Signoria, north of Palazzo Vecchio.
They acquired riches and honours and became so powerful, that at length, their arrogance and lack of civic spirit increasing, they set the fatal example of intestine strife. In the quarrels between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines they joined the latter. When after 60 years’ struggles the Guelphs remained masters of the city, the Uberti who had been exiled, were not allowed to return, and such was the hatred with which they inspired the people, that the new Palace of the Signoria (Palazzo Vecchio), decreed to be built in 1298, was not allowed to touch the ground upon which their houses had stood; hence the north front of Palazzo Vecchio bends inwards, instead of keeping a straight line.—In spite of this old feud the present generation granted to their memory a place of highest honour in that same Palazzo Vecchio.