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Virginia de' Medici

Florence, 8 Jun 1568 – Modena, 15 Jan 1615

8 facts3 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 8 Jun 1568

    Born in Florence

  2. 22 Oct 1591

    A son is born

  3. 15 Jan 1615

    Dies in Modena, aged 46

Family

See the tree

Parents

Partner

Children · 1

During her lifetime

She lived through 6 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Florence.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1560s · Virginia is born in Florence

In the news1562

Capital moved to Turin

The capital of the Duchy was transferred from Chambéry to Turin in 1562, leading to the eventual marginalization of the Savoyard lands.

Getting around

Network of roads and mule tracks

The region relied on a network of paths and roads, including the major Via Emilia that connected Parma and Piacenza, while others like the route to Spezia were mountain mule tracks. Carriageable roads existed for local travel, such as the route between Piacenza, Rivergaro, and Travi.

In the news1561

Mandatory salt tax introduced

In 1561, the Duke imposed a mandatory salt tax requiring every person to purchase about 11.4 kilograms of salt annually, with the poor exempted.

Daily life

Storing water and cooking on the floor

Water was kept in wooden buckets reinforced with iron rings, and because drinking pure water was often feared, it was typically mixed with wine. Cooking took place over a fire built directly on the floor, using a chain to hang a single cooking pot.

What people wore

Everyday village clothing for women

In the sixteenth-century villages of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, women's daily attire consistently included a shirt (camicia), a dress (veste), a veil, a cap (scuffia), and an apron (scossale).

Music

Chamber Music Instruments in Noble Homes

For indoor entertainment, noble households enjoyed soft-sounding instruments such as lutes, viols, and flutes, which were well-suited for chamber music and accompanying dances.

At the table

Daily Meat and Friday Fish Habits

Ordinary families frequently consumed meat, which they bought daily, while adhering to the religious practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays by eating freshwater fish like frogs, crayfish, eels, tench, carp, and pike.