ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been a growing trend amongst scholars working on Cinquecento Florence to concentrate on the cultural development of the Medici principate. This has been particularly true in the case of literary academies. A substantial amount of research has been conducted on the Accademia Fiorentina, the official cultural organ of the Medicean state, as well as on the role of Duke Cosimo I in patronising it and in using it to promulgate the Medici policy of glorifying the Tuscan language.l Nevertheless, many questions remain unanswered with regard to some of the lesser-known academies that were created and functioned on the cultural periphery. This article deals with one such group, the Accademia del Piano. In particular, it focuses on an incident described in two letters from the ducal secretary Lorenzo Pagni to Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. These letters not only shed light on the ludic behaviour of the academicians, but just as importantly they reveal Cosimo's attitudes towards this institution.2
