Tomb slab of Giovanni de' Medici

Finely carved floor tomb slab of the gonfalonier (magistrate) Giovanni dei Medici (died 1352), by Florentine artists, with black and white marble inlay. The slab was found in the floor of the ancient Basilica of Santa Reparata during a 1965-1974 excavation campaign. From the highly refined Latin inscription carved around the perimeter, we learn that the slab covered the burial of a son of Knight Alamanno de’Medici, named Giovanni de’Medici, himself a knight and also the Gonfaloniere of Justice for Florence from 1351 to 1352, the year of his death and burial. The family coat of arms, a shield with six spheres, is carved at the centre of the slab. The image of the helmet, surmounting the shield, alludes to the position of Giovanni as knight, also testified by the goods placed in his burial. Overall, the tombstone offers important witness to the early phases of a social ascent that would first lead the Medicis to dominate Florence, then all of Tuscany, well into the 18th century.