Monsignore della casa

Home of the author of "Galateo", the book about etiquette

In the same manor of the Country Resort, recognized by the Ministry of cultural heritage as a landscape of particular value, lies the Renaissance villa, “La Casa”.

It was in this same Villa that the noble Giovanni della Casa was born in 1503. He was the son of Pandolfo della Casa and of Lisabetta Tornabuoni, Lorenzo the Magnificient’s cousin.

Giovanni, best known as “Il Monsignore”, studied law in Bologna and then became a clergyman in Florence. For a certain amount of time he lived in Rome where he became close to important personalities such as Cardinal Alexander Farnese, who put him in charge of many assignments around Florence. In 1555 he was nominated secretary of state of the Holy See. He died in Rome in November 1556.

Nowadays, Giovanni della Casa is not remembered for his important career in the clergy: his fame mainly goes to the very well-known “Galateo ovvero de’ costumi”, still considered one of the most important milestones as regards manners and bon ton.