page_title: House of Sacchetti
section_title: Florentine Branch
hierarchical_section_title: House of Sacchetti / Branches / Florentine Branch
context_page_description: The House of Sacchetti is an Italian noble family originating in Tuscany whose earliest documented member Merlo lived during the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The name of the family is derived from one or more members known as Sacchetto. According to Ugolino di Vieri,"nobile Sacchetti genus est, moenia primus romanus sangius".
  In the 19th century, the Sacchetti inherited the title of Prince of Palestrina and permission to use the Barberini name.
context_section_description: According to Ugolino di Vieri the Sacchetti were among the families forced to relocate from Fiesole to Florence after the former was  conquered in 1125. In 1137, the earliest document asserts Sacchetto and his brother Bernardino di Bonizo di Merlo contract a tower association with  the Uberti family.(Strozziane Uguccioni, August 11, 1137). It was the descendants of Sacchetto that would eventually use this as a patronymic and become known as the Sacchetti. In 1197, Brodaio di Sacchetto was elected to the Council of the Florentine Republic. and in 1202, Consul. While Cingisallo and Albizzo di Rovinoso are listed among the Anziani for the year 1200.  When Florentine society was divided between the political factions of the Guelf and the Ghibellines most members of the family sided with the Guelf party. In 1260 the Teghiaio and Giambeto Sacchetti fought in the Battle of Montaperti against  Ghibelline Siena while Gaglia di Upizzino Sacchetti was one of the men charged with defending the Carroccio, a wheeled altar which was the rallying point for a medieval army. The Sienese defeated the Florentines and the Sacchetti were exiled but later returned with the eventual defeat of the Sienese and the final expulsion of the Florentine Ghibellines. Despite the family's support for Guelf party, the Sacchetti were barred from public office in the Ordinances of Justice in 1293 and 1295. The ordinances were intended to exclude Ghibelline sympathizers and nobles with a reputation for their bellicose nature and a predilection for violence to impose their will.  Eventually the family returned to the council and the highest offices of the Republic. Antonio di Forese Sacchetti was appointed by the Signoria on July 7, 1375 as one of the eight members of a committee, that became known as the "Otto dei Preti" (Eight Priests), to carry out the taxation of the clergy in Florence and Fiesole. The tax was a forced loan to pay for the nonaggression pact with the mercenary Sir John Hawkwood at a cost of 130,000 florins. Antonio with the other members were excommunicated by Pope Gregory XI.  
    The family has two main branches, one that remained in Florence up to the time of the hegemony of the Medici and relocated to Rome in the sixteenth century and the Neapolitan branch that went into the service of the Normans in southern Italy shortly after their forced transfer from Fiesole.
caption: Pietro da Cortona - Battle of Alexander versus Darius. Begun in 1643 Commissioned by Alessandro Sacchetti and alludes to the patron's name and career in the Papal army. Collection: Capitoline Museums
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