The Carraresi (or da Carrara) were an important family of northern Italy in the 12th to 15th centuries, Francesco il Vecchio, son of Giacomo, a close friend of Petrarch in his early years, was a noted patron of Petrarch himself, his retirement years were spent at Arquà, a Carrara fief, and he bequeathed to Francesco his picture of the Virgin by which Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages?