N. 6. - Inscription and coat of arms to commemorate the VISDOMINI placed in the ancient tower in Via dell’Oche underneath the bridge-holes that still exist. The tower and adjoining palace (with access from Via delle Scheletre N. 3) belonged from times immemorial to the family of the Visdomini, the inner part facing the Corte and PIAZZA DEI VISDOMINI. The yard and houses were afterwards incorporated in the inclosure of the “Canonica del Duomo”:
Reading edition
..... Così facean li padri di coloro Che, sempre che la vostra chiesa vaca Si fanno grassi stando a consistoro. DANTE, Paradiso, XVI, 112–114. So likewise did the ancestors of those Who evermore, when vacant is your church, Fatten by staying in consistory. Longfellow’s translation.
These verses, following those of N. 5, refer to the Visdomini and others who, being sprung from the founders of the bishopric of Florence, were the curators of its revenues, which they did not spare, whenever it became vacant. When a bishop died, they took possession of the episcopal palace and, as custodians and defenders thereof, dwelt and feasted in it, till the successor was appointed. The memory of the Visdomini survives in the title of the little Church of S. Michele dei Visdomini at the corner of Via Bufalini and Via dei Servi.—The Visdomini, Tosinghi, Cortigiani and others all belonged to one great parentage or “Consorteria” who backed each other in all their interests, quarrels and struggles for power and influence, bearing one common blazon, which showed the elements of the different emblems borne by the various families, that made up the “Consorteria.” The coat of arms, as given by the Commune, lacks the pastorale, evidently a mistake according to the judgement of authorities on heraldry.
UGO DI TOSCANA