Buonaccorso Pitti

Life & Legacy

Buonaccorso Pitti was a prominent Florentine merchant in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. His family was very prestigious and his father very involved in politics. He was a gambler and often made unsafe investments, though he managed to make money from it several times during his life. He bought and sold horses, wine, wool, and clothing among other things. We know an unusual amount about him because his diary has survived.
In 1422, he was elected the Standard Bearer of Justice, Florence's highest post. In 1401, while serving as the Florentine ambassador to Bavaria, he, his brothers, and their descendants were ennobled by Rupert, King of the Romans, after having saved his life by thwarting a poisoning attempt by the Duke of Milan. His son, Luca, built the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, but never finished it, it was given to him, but he sold it in 1549. Buonaccorso's descendants, the Counts Buonacorsi di Pistoia, moved from Tuscany to Bavaria in the late 19th century. The family emigrated to the U.S. in the early 20th century.