Donna Maria, before she was twelve, could read and quote Homer with ease. She composed elegantly in Greek and Latin, and, possessed of a remarkably sweet and sympathetic voice, she was able to recite from memory, and even to expound her own juvenile opinions, both in Latin and in Tuscan.
Cosimo and Eleanora inhabited the Medici Palace, in the Via Larga, just five years, and then he transferred his official residence to the Palazzo Vecchio. This he did to show that he was absolute ruler of Tuscany as well as head of the Medici family. With the skilled assistance of Tasso, the architect, and Vasari, the painter, he set about structural and decorative alterations and adornments, which rendered the old building more suitable as a residence for the Sovereign.
In 1549 Duchess Eleanora purchased the Pitti Palace from Buonaccorso Pitti, for 9000 gold florins, and laid out the adjacent gardens. There the Duke and Duchess took up their residence with their family and their suite.
Among young aspirants to fame and fortune, who enrolled themselves in the “Bande Nere,” were several scions of the proud and warlike Rimini family of Malatesti. One branch of the family held the Marquisate of Roncofreddo, and their stronghold was the castle of Montecodruzzo. Marquis Leonida de’ Malatesti was the happy father of many sons and daughters. After the premature death of the Condottiere Giovanni de’ Medici, his sons maintained their allegiance and devotion to the cause of his son Cosimonino.
Giacopo and Lamberto, elder sons, became esquires of the young Medico, and were of the party which entered Florence on that memorable day in 1537. A younger boy, Malatesta, followed his brothers’ example, for, in 1548, in the list of officers and men of the Ducal household in Florence, appears his name as a page, but of the tender age of ten.
The lad was possessed of the vigour and spirit of his race, and it required all the patience and tact of Frate Cammillo Selmi, the Master of the Pages, to keep him in order. His pugnacious disposition attracted the attention of the Duke, and his pretty looks and fair hair charmed the Duchess. One other recommendation the young boy had—his father’s fidelity and worthy services, and he was looked upon as a pet of the palace, and became rather a playmate than an attendant of the Duke’s family. Besides, his mother was a Florentine—she was Madonna Cassandra, the daughter of Messer Nattio de’ Cini, a devoted adherent of the Medici.
Many were the escapades in which Francesco, Giovanni, Garzia, and Ernando, the Duke’s sons, were joined by young Malatesta de’ Malatesti and other pages of the household. One such boyish prank, when the Court was at Pisa, in the winter of 1550, had a tragic ending. In the pages’ common room the lads were playing with shot-guns, which were supposed to be unloaded. Picking up one of these, by mere chance, Malatesta aimed it jokingly at his companions, when to his and their alarm the weapon exploded, and, sad to behold, poor young Francesco Brivio, a son of Signore Dionisio Brivio of Milan, a fellow page, fell to the ground mortally wounded.
Consternation reigned in the palace, the Duke’s private physician, Maestro Andrea Pasquali, was sent for in all haste from Florence, and everything was done for the unfortunate lad, but, on the fourth day—it was just before Christmas—the promising young life passed away.
Malatesta, with his heart breaking, was confined in the guard-room, and there he remained pending the Duke’s decision. Every one was grieved beyond measure at the tragic occurrence, but all took Malatesta’s part. The young Medici were eager and united in their version of the affair, moreover Donne Maria and Isabella were filled with pity for the unhappy young prisoner. Indeed, the former regarded him with a sister’s love: she was just ten and the lad thirteen, and she pleaded with the Duchess, her mother, to have the boy released.