Pazzi Conspiracy
Things Fall Apart
the town hall of Florence
The archbishop did not go visit his mother. Instead, he went with a company of thirty armed men to the Signoria, to seize control of the Palazzo. The presence of the armed men was a little odd, but not alarming, for great men sometimes travelled with a bodyguard. Salviati asked that he be announced, that he had a message to deliver from the pope. This made sense, since everyone knew relations were strained, and if anyone would be delivering a message, it would be Salviati.
Florence had no mayor. The very idea was alien to the idea of a republic, where everyone was theoretically equal before the law. There was, however, the office with the lovely name of Gonfaloniere della Giustizia—the Standard-Bearer of Justice. He, along with a number of other officials, was required to spend the two months of his office actually residing in the Palazzo, able to leave only with special permission. The Gonfaloniere at the time was Cesare Petrucci, a firm supporter of the Medici.
Petrucci was dining at the time, it being mid-day, and he had the Archbishop placed in a reception room, but Jacopo Bracciolini and a few other companions were left in the hallway (this was on the top floor). The mercenaries who followed the archbishop were put into a separate room, for they would have no business in a diplomatic meeting. After a short wait, Salviati was shown in.
He was plainly agitated. He began speaking about the pope and high regard and so on, but he fumbled for words and kept glancing back at the door to the hall. Petrucci was on his guard almost at once, sensing something was wrong. Salviati's face alternately went red and then pale. He stammered. Petrucci called for his guards. Salviati panicked and ran for the adjoining room, calling out that the moment to strike had come. Petrucci followed and found Bracciolini there, where he had no business being. The Gonfaloniere grabbed the man by his hair and threw him to the ground just as the palace guard arrived.
The mercenaries, meanwhile, were nowhere to be seen. They were still in the room where they'd been placed, surprised to find that they were locked in; for the room had doors that locked automatically when they were closed. This simple engineering trick, along with Cesare Petrucci's quick action, saved the Signoria.