ABSTRACT
Through their sponsorship of elaborate celebrations and festivals in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Medici grand dukes of Tuscany eagerly seized opportunities to glorify themselves, Florence and the Medicean principate through the commemoration of weddings, baptisms, funerals, visits of foreign dignitaries and annual civic events such as Carnival and the Feast of St John the Baptist. Intended for a select audience of Florentine nobility and distinguished guests, private spectacles were usually held in the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio, the Medici Theatre in the Uffizi, the Palazzo Medici, or the grand hall or courtyard of the Palazzo Pitti. The Medici feste that were available to the general population were typically held in Piazza Santa Croce, Piazza Santa Maria Novella, or Piazza della Signoria. For these public festivities, all Florentines had the opportunity to experience a variety of entertainments including football games, animal baiting, horse ballets and various types of palii and jousts.1
