Corsini
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Corsini".

Corsini coat of arm, from Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Corsini is the name of a Florentine princely family and its estates.

History

The founder is said to be Neri Corsini, who flourished about the year 1170.Probably they were coming from Corsica when the Republic of Pisa was ruling the Island and were called Corso (from Corsica) than Corsino and finally Corsini. Like other Florentine nobles the Corsini had at first no titles, but in more recent times they received many from foreign potentates and from the later grand dukes of Tuscany.

Saint Andrew Corsini (1302—1373) was a member of this family.

The Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV created the head of the house a count palatine in 1371; the marquisate of Sismano was conferred on them in 1620, those of Casigliano and Civitella in 1629, of Lajatico and Orciatico in 1644, of Giovagallo and Tresana in 1652.

In 1730 Lorenzo Corsini was elected pope as Clement XII, created a nephew (a true nepote) cardinal Neri Corsini, and conferred the rank of Roman princes and the duchy of Casigliano on his family; in 1732 they were created grandees of Spain.

Legacy

They owned two palaces in Florence, one of which on the Lungarno Corsini (see Palazzo Corsini) contains the finest painting galleries in the city, and many villas and rural estates in various parts of Italy, including Prato.

Sources and references

• L. Passerini, Genealogia e storia della famiglia Corsini (Florence, 1858)
• A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom (Berlin, 1868)
• Almanach de Gotha.
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. (passim)