What Clarice Wore at her Wedding . . .

Of course, the young woman in the portrait is not Clarice, but it is likely the fabric shown on the sleeve of Pollaiolo's "Portrait of a Lady" (c. 1475, currently in the Uffizi) was similar to the fabric used for Clarice's gown.

From a letter written by Piero di Marco Parenti  to (most likely) Filippo di Mateo Strozzi , published in Lives of the early Medici as told in their correspondence:

“On Tuesday the bride left (a tournament was held first), and returned to the house of the Alessandri in the same dress in which she came to be married.  This was a robe of white and gold brocade and a magnificent hood on her head, as is used here.  She rode the same horse and was accompanied b the same youths, whose rich dresses of silver brocade embroidered with large pearls and jewels baffle description.  From what they tell of courts of great princes nothing was ever seen like it save certain jewels of great value worn by some great Lords.  Of the women I say nothing!  Such jackets and robes of silk, all of them embroidered with pearls."

The Costa Concordia

I saw the shipwrecked Costa Concordia on a recent visit to the island of Giglio, off the coast of southwest Tuscany.  An American company has been awarded the contract for the demolition, which is set to begin soon.  Most likely the Heils, the American couple who perished here, were distant relatives of our family, as the Heil name was common only in one small village near Darmstadt, Germany.  What a tragedy, and an avoidable tragedy at that.