PALAZZO VAI
Via Cavour. No. 31.
The old family of Orlandini were the original proprietors of this palace, and traces of the arches of their loggia are still to be seen. The street corner was called Canto degl’Orlandini until the palace was sold to Bernardetto de’ Medici, when it took his name, which is inscribed on an old marble tablet let into the wall. Bernardetto was descended from Averardo, grandfather of Cosimo the Elder, and was Gonfalonier of Justice in 1447, and again in 1455. He was the ancestor of Alessandro, Pope for twenty-seven days under the name of Leo XI., and of Bernardetto, married to Giulia, natural daughter of Duke Alessandro de’ Medici, who bought Ottojano from the Gonzaga in the Kingdom of Naples. In 1737, his descendant, Prince Giuseppe d’Ottajano, lay claim to the throne of Tuscany after the death of the last Grand Duke Giovan Gastone, but his claim was disallowed.