Fondazione Casa Buonarroti
Venerdì 3 marzo 2023
dalle ore 12.00 alle ore 13.00
Firenze, Casa Buonarroti
via Ghibellina, 70
Press release
The restoration of 342 autograph letters of Michelangelo Buonarroti
The restoration and digitization were carried out thanks to the contribution of
Ente Cambiano scpa
No one among Renaissance artists is as well-known and familiar to us as Michelangelo. We know what he ate, how he cared for himself, how much he spent on clothes … but we can also follow him in his moments of meditation, in his outbursts of generosity, in his fits of anger, in his fears.
All of this was possible thanks to Michelangelo’s marked aptitude for the almost maniacal preservation of every document that concerned his everyday life: contracts, letters received, minutes of letters sent, drafts of poems, grocery bills. The enormous amount of papers he collected over the course of his long life was devotedly guarded by his descendants, going on to form the fundamental core of the family archive, which over the centuries grew with documents from other members, until it reached the remarkable size of 169 volumes and more than 25,000 papers.
One of the most valuable sections of the archive is undoubtedly the letters in his own hand, both minute letters sent to the most varied personages of his time (from Pope Clement VII to Queen Catherine de’ Medici of France, from poetess Vittoria Colonna to historian Benedetto Varchi, from painter Sebastiano del Piombo to Giorgio Vasari).
Considering the importance and fragility of these papers, the Association of the Friends of the Casa Buonarroti-in the persons of Elisabetta Archi and Antonio Paolucci-considered submitting a restoration project to Ente Cambiano scpa, which with great impetus welcomed and supported it with generous and far-sighted sensitivity.
The project now being presented to the public involved the restoration, conditioning and HD digital photographic documentation of no less than 342 letters, which constitute volumes IV and V of the Buonarroti Archive.
The project and its implications, are presented by.
Cristina Acidini, President of the Casa Buonarroti Foundation
Paolo Regini, president of Ente Cambiano scpa and Banca Cambiano 1884 SpA
Carl B. Strehlke, president of the Association of Friends of the Buonarroti House
Antonella Brogi, restorer
The restored papers, which will then be repositioned and stored in the Buonarroti House Archives, will be on view on the occasion.
Texts, images with captions and communiqué available for download at