CINQUE per MILLE
CINQUE per MILLE
The staircase, in the hall, leads to the room on the first floor and to the areas currently occupied by the State Archive. It was the “private” part of the house, destined mainly for domestic life.
The room was furnished with a great walnut table, benches and a church bench.
From this room there was access to the room where Stoldo di Lorenzo slept, which later became the room of Ginevra, Francesco’s daughter, and to the bedroom of Francesco and Margherita.
The couple’s bed was equipped with predella, blue curtains and a Venetian style painted canopy; linen and clothing were kept in large drawers and in two black and white bone strong-boxes, one of which decorated with ivory, from Avignon, contained the most valuable items: strings of coral or bone paternoster beads with gilded silver cross, painted ivory combs, silver rings and buttons, a silk handkerchief made in Sicily, sapphires, emeralds, pearls and gold bars. A small recess, presumably obtained within the bedroom, is described in the inventories in different ways: as a common place (latrine), a wardrobe, a study or a writing desk.
Two closed galleries afforded access from the Datini’s bedroom to an area that comprised the kitchen, barn and a loft over the barn where, for a certain period Lucia, Ginevra’s slave mother slept.
The decoration of Stoldo’s bedroom, with painted walls and a decorated wooden ceiling is attributed to Arrigo di Niccolò, while Bartolomeo di Bertozzo and his companion Agnolo executed the room’s painted ceiling.
Both interventions are dated 1391-92.
