"Tutta la vita dell'uomo dalla nascita per infine alla morte": le allegorie della facciata del palazzo di Sforza Almeni

This essay aims to reconstruct the events surrounding the invention of the façade of the Palazzo of Sforza Almeni, trusted servant and cupbearer to Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, who later fell from grace, but also his astute collecting. Through the reconstruction of the two designs for the façade by Giorgio Vasari between 1553 and 1554, which can be reconstructed from letters sent to Sforza and from Vasari's description in Giuntina in the Vita di Cristofano Gherardi detto il Doceno, an attempt is made to shed light on the changes that took place between the two drafts, on the subjects depicted that combined encyclopaedic decorations, similar to medieval summae (the theme of human life, based on the number seven, associated with the Planets, the Liberal Arts and other virtues), with the panegyric and glory of Cosimo and his reign. Vasari insists not only on the public nature of the work but also on the fact that, in the programme, he had taken into consideration five fundamental areas: “the city, the Prince, the house, the site and you”, that is, Sforza Almeni. The invention effectively speaks of Sforza's servitude, of his lord, and of Florence, manifesting itself in the illustration of Cosimo's predestined happiness, in which Florence also participates through the image of Sforza's fortune and destiny.