Capponi family
In the annals of Florentine history, from the beginning to the end, probably no family appears as frequently - almost on every page - as the Capponi. Resident from 1210, the family was among the richest in Florence by the end of the century, and in Gino (1350-1421) and Neri (1388-1475) it produced two of the outstanding office-holders and ambassadors of the period, the former supporting the Albizzi, the latter the Medici. It was Piero (1446-96) whose fiery reply to Charles VIII in 1494 - 'if you sound your trumpets we shall peal our bells' - reflected pride of lineage as well as of his city. In 1527 Niccolò di Piero (1437-1529) was elected gonfalonier and, at the height of the popular Savonarolan revival, proclaimed Christ as King of Florence. From 1530 its anti-Medicean stance cost the family its prominence and a number of them, exiled, had to seek their fortunes elsewhere.
