Stampa. In Venice, she studied literature
and music, and with her sister Cassandra
she became an accomplished lute player.
Her brother Baldassare was earning some
renown as a poet and gathering friends
and writers to the family home, which be-
came a popular salon enlivened by music
performed by the Stampa sisters. After the
death of her brother in 1544, Gaspara con-
tinued the salon and she became the cen-
ter of a literary circle, among whom she
earned praise as a poet. Three of her po-
ems were published during her lifetime,
but after her death Cassandra collected
311 of her poems into the collectionRime.
The poems describe Gaspara’s love affair
with Count Collaltino de Collato that
brought her heartbreak and frustration.
Her sonnets took their inspiration from
Petrarch and his love for the distant Laura.
SEEALSO: d’Aragona, Tullia; Petrarch; Ven-
ice
Strozzi family ...................................
A dynasty of aristocratic Florentine mer-
chants who rose to prominence in the thir-
teenth century, and who are remembered
for their long-standing feud with the pow-
erful Medici family. Palla Strozzi (1373–
1462) was a patron of scholars of Florence
and Padua, who founded the first public
library in Florence. Under his leadership
the Strozzi banking empire survived a fi-
nancial crisis in the fourteenth century
that left his own and the Medici dynasty
as the most powerful business corpora-
tions in Italy. Filippo Strozzi the Elder
(1428–1491) was an outspoken opponent
of the Medici, who was banished from Flo-
rence by Cosimo de’ Medici and estab-
lished himself in Naples. After returning
to Florence in 1466, he became an adviser
to Lorenzo de’ Medici and began construc-
tion of the Strozzi palace, which remains
one of the most imposing mansions of his
native city. Having gathered a vast fortune,
he commissioned the artist Fra Filippo
Lippi to decorate the church of Santa
Maria Novella.
His son, who is known as Filippo II
Strozzi the Younger (1489–1538), allied
himself with the Medici through his mar-
riage to Clarice de’ Medici, the daughter of
Piero de’ Medici. He provided loans to the
Medici but his own plans for political
power brought him into conflict with the
Medici and ultimately his banishment
from the city. He led fellow exiles in an
uprising against the Medici in 1527. The
Republic of Florence was overthrown in
1530, but instead of allying with Alessan-
dro de’ Medici, the new dictator of the
city, Filippo left for Venice. He organized a
group of Florentine exiles who sought to
reestablish the republic after the assassina-
tion of Alessandro de’ Medici in 1537. The
conflict ended in a battle at Montemurlo,
where he was captured. Thrown into the
prison of Fortezza da Basso, he was tor-
tured and he died, either by murder or by
suicide.
The sons of Filippo Strozzi distin-
guished themselves in the service of
France. Leone Strozzi (1515–1554) joined
the Knights of Malta and then the navy of
France, where he rose to the rank of ad-
miral. Leone’s brother Piero Strozzi (1500–
1558) joined the French army in its cam-
paigns in Italy. For his service he was
named a marshal of France in 1554. In
1557 he took part in the French siege of
the port of Calais, then in the hands of
the English. Their descendant Carlo Strozzi
(1587–1671) was an author who wrote sev-
eral noted books of Florentine history.SEEALSO: Florence; Medici, Cosimo de’;
Medici, Lorenzo de’Strozzi family