What is done is done

"What is done is done"
 
 
"COSA FATTA CAPO HA" the Italian saying is related to a fact happened in 1216 during a party among the aristocratic Florentine families. Buondelmonte Buondelmonti was a smart, beautiful, noble man: a jealous servant, certainly supported by other guests attacked him. During the scuffle Buondelmonte wounded Oddo Arrighi, the man who supported him during the fight. The feast finished but Buondelmonte had to pay for what he did. 
So, the Arrighi family gathered inside the church of "S. Stefano al Ponte" next to Ponte Vecchio together with the members of the families they were allied with: Amidei, Lamberti, Uberti, Alberti
They decided the punishment for Buondelmonte: he had to marry Oddo's nephew, a simple ugly girl; she wasn't aristocratic. This was a very cruel revenge! Buondelmonte accepted but the day of the wedding he abandoned her for another woman belonging to the Donati family. The new girlfriend paid a very high penalty because Buondelmonte had already signed the wedding contract with Oddo's nephew. The allied families gathered another time inside the old church of "Santa Maria Sopra Porta" to decide the new penalty. During the meeting Mosca Lamberti pronounced: "Cosa fatta capo ha", that means "what is done is done", Buondelmonte will pay with his life!
So, Mosca Lamberti killed Buondelmonte at his passage on Ponte Vecchio on Easter 1216.
Florentine aristocratic families divided into two parts after this private revenge: Alberti, Uberti, Lamberti claimed the help pf the Emperor Federico II to escape from the republican government and they became "ghibelline"; on the contrary Buondelmonti family and its supporters - Pazzi, Donati - were "guelphs". This killing was the beginning of the civil florentine war between the aristocratic families factions of the city: Guelphs against ghibellines
Even Dante mentions Mosca Lamberti in the Hell: the man was the source of the quarrel. When he was alive he spreaded injustice and he separated families, now a devil breaks him into pieces with a sword!

 
The painting on the left represents the funeral of Buondelmonte. The procession passes on Ponte Vecchio where, according to the Medieval historian Giovanni Villani,
a statue of the god Mars was situated until 1333 when the terrible flood brought it away.

 
The old tower-house belonged to Buondelmonte and his family in Via delle Terme in Florence.
Altri articoli
Vincenzo Viviani and his Master Galileo Galilei
Vincenzo Viviani and his Master Galileo Galilei

On the facade of a florentine palace called "Palazzo dei Cartelloni" ("cartellone" in Italian means "poster") situated near the central station.

The Magnificent, why?
The Magnificent, why?

Lorenzo de' Medici, although not having attained such a position, was called so for his role as a guide and influence on the city.

The Marzocco, the symbol
The Marzocco, the symbol

A cage full of lions was situated behind Piazza Signoria in the actual Via dei Leoni in the middle of XIV century to protect priors.

The terrestrial and celestial Gods
The terrestrial and celestial Gods

The wonderful decorations on the ceilings were commissioned by Cosimo I to Giorgio Vasari