Note 224 — Chapter XIV

The old tradition which has come down to our own days, which derives the Buonarotti Simoni from the Counts of Canossa (and which was believed in the family itself in Michelangelo’s days, as must be concluded from Ascanio Condivi’s words in his biography, published during the artist’s lifetime), rests on no historical foundation. Cf. G. Campori, Catalogo degli artisti sc. negli Stati Estensi (Modena 1855), p. 100 et seq. The noble family of Buonarotti has of late years become extinct in Florence. Lodovico, Michelangelo’s father, was already connected with the Medici when holding an official post in the Casentino, where his son was born within view of the great mountain of Alvernia—the crudo sasso of the Divine Comedy.