Nardi, Jacopo (1476–1563)

Florentine political figure and historian. A committed republican, he held various offices after the exiling of the Medici from Florence in 1494, and played an active role in their second expulsion in 1527. On their return in 1530 Nardi himself was exiled. His most important work is a history of Florence published posthumously in 1582.

Nardi was born in Florence and belonged to the intellectual circle of the Orti Oricellari. His earliest works were two comedies based on tales in Boccaccio: L'Amicizia (written 1502–12) and I due felici rivali (performed in 1513). His history of Florence, Istorie della città di Firenze (1582), which covers the period 1498–1537, is mainly valuable for the period 1512–30, when Nardi was deeply involved in the political events on the anti-Medici side.

Following his exile from Florence in 1530 he lived in Venice.