In the margin of a copy of “The Lives … by Giorgio Vasari”, an unsigned note was found:

“Cheeky, presumptuous, evil beast, ignorant, envious, liar …” and other perhaps worse offenses. It is said that they were written by Annibale Carracci (Bolognese painter), Vasari’s archenemy…

Although he was never an excellent artist, Giorgio Vasari had the intelligence to realize it. His awareness was his strength and he was able to discover how to express his genius with careful projects and meticulous organization.

“Historico, poet, philosopho and painter …“

this is how Pietro the Aretino, a friend and great admirer of him, defines him. And not only: today they would call him Wedding Planner, in fact he directs various arrangements of famous weddings: between Alessandro de ‘Medici and Margherita d’Asburgo, and on the occasion of the wedding celebrations between Francesco I de’ Medici and Giovanna d’Austria as the director of a series of major spectacular events.

But also, and above all, architect, and not only for the Corridor that goes from Palazzo Pitti to Palazzo Vecchio passing over Ponte Vecchio, and which will take the name “Vasariano” from him, built in a few months from 12th March to 17th December 1565 .

Not yet thirty, he had bought a house in the San Lorentino district in Arezzo. After the restoration completed in 1550, he married the very young Niccolosa Bacci, a girl from a wealthy Arezzo family, known for having commissioned Piero della Francesca to paint the frescoes on The Story of the True Cross.

The upset that Giorgio feels towards Niccolosa is not the one that of a forty-year-old towards to a beautiful fourteen-year-old, whom he affectionately calls “Little Thing”.

Many will say that the marriage between Niccolosa and Gorgio, despite the difference in age and never cheered by the birth of children, was satisfied and happy, so much so that in the Great Hall of their home, Giorgio depicts her in the Allegory of conjugal love: a sweet and delicate portrait of his “Little Thing“.