Writing Home: Letters to and from Florentine Exiles (1433-1494)

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I propose to research epistolary correspondences between Florentine exiles and those they were forced to leave behindduring the period of Medici dominance from 1433-1494. The objectives of this research will be: to investigate the effectsover time of such correspondences on their readers' and writers' conceptions and memories of home; to map the kindsof imagined homes they had the potential to engender; and to address questions of identity as it related to the family,citizenship, the patria and politics. The initial focus of my research has been on the letters of Alessandra Strozzi (c. 1406-1471) to her sons, exiled from Florence in 1434 and scattered throughout Europe. These show that for the Strozzi, homemeant family, above all the relationship between the mother and her children. I expect to find that other Florentine exiles'identities and ideas of home would have related to their citizenship and pride in the Republic. Some may have feltembittered by the state of affairs that resulted in their expulsion, and through their letters conjured a nostalgic idea ofhome in an idealised past. Others may have pined for the burgeoning cultural scene from which they were excluded. Setwithin such a thematic framework, my readings will aim to conclude on the varieties of Florentine identity and establishnew thinking on the building of imagined homes through letter-writing.