Phd in HISTORY OF ART

Thesis title: GIORGIO VASARI E LA NAZIONE FIORENTINA A ROMA

This thesis examines Giorgio Vasari’s time in Rome prior to his appointment at the court of Cosimo I, with a particular focus on his interactions with the Florentine community living in the city. Rather than framing this early phase of his career solely in terms of his ties to papal patrons—first the Farnese, then the Del Monte—or as a period marked by itinerant commissions from Camaldolese and Olivetan clients across Italy, the study proposes a third interpretative path. It argues that Vasari’s engagement with the network of Florentine merchants and bankers active in Rome and other key centers of anti-Medicean sentiment, such as Venice, played a crucial role in shaping both his artistic trajectory and personal biography. By foregrounding these connections, the research offers a fresh perspective on the ‘pre-Medici’ Vasari and reconsiders the significance of his Roman experience within the broader context of sixteenth-century Florentine identity and artistic patronage.