Lucrezia Tournabuoni

The correct spelling of this name is LUCREZIA TORNABUONI.

Born into an old and prominent Florentine banking family, Lucrezia Tornabuoni married Piero de’ Medici at the age of nineteen. A highly cultivated woman, both pious and practical, Lucrezia wrote devotional poetry on grand biblical themes and was a shrewd businesswoman; among her ventures was the redevelopment of the dilapidated sulphur baths at Morba into a flourishing enterprise. In 1464, when Piero became head of the Medici clan and de facto ruler of Florence, Lucrezia and her husband presided over a splendid period of artistic and literary patronage which included the promotion of humanistic ideals and writings in the Italian vernacular. Her legacy continued in the rule of her son, Lorenzo the Magnificent, and her grandson, Pope Clement VII.