Palla di Onorio Strozzi

Palla di Onofrio Strozzi (1372 – 8 May 1462) was an Italian banker, politician, writer, philosopher and philologist. Born in Florence into the wealthy Strozzi banking family, he was educated by humanists, learning Greek and Latin, and amassing an important collection of rare books. Vespasiano da Bisticci described him as rich, handsome, a family man, a scholar, and a great builder and collector. In 1427, he was the richest man in Florence with significant assets including farms, houses, a banking firm, and communal bonds. Despite his wealth, Strozzi lived extravagantly and had little interest in his family's banking business. In his sixties, he joined Rinaldo degli Albizzi in opposing Cosimo de' Medici. They succeeded in exiling Cosimo in 1433, but after Cosimo's return in 1434, Strozzi and his family were exiled to Padua. He never returned to Florence, though his son did and built a palace there in 1480. Strozzi died in 1462, leaving his collection to the Abbey of Santa Giustina. As a patron of the arts, he commissioned Gentile da Fabriano's *Adoration of the Magi* and Fra Angelico's *Deposition of Christ*. He is also credited with buying manuscripts from Greece and having works by Ptolemy, Plutarch, Plato, and Aristotle translated into Italian.