Filippo Strozzi the Elder (July 4, 1428 – May 14, 1491) was an Italian banker and statesman, a member of the affluent Strozzi

Strozzi

Strozzi is the name of an ancient and noble Florentine family. Palla Strozzi played an important part in the public life of Florence, and founded the first public library in Florence in the monastery of Santa Trinita...

 family of Florence.

He was born in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 to Matteo Strozzi and Alessandra Macinghi

Alessandra Macinghi

Alessandra Macinghi was a 15th-century Florentine woman. She lost her parents at an early age, and was married to Matteo Strozzi when she was about 14. The Strozzi family was then one of the more influential merchant and diplomatic families of the city. The couple had eight children; five of them,...

. He was banned by the Medici

Medici

The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...

 as a young man, together with all his family, due to the opposition of Palla Strozzi

Palla Strozzi

Palla di Onofrio Strozzi was an Italian banker, politician, writer, philosopher and philologist.-Biography:He was born in Florence into the rich family of the Strozzi. He was educated by humanists, learning Greek and Latin, and establishing an important collection of rare books...

 against Cosimo de' Medici

Cosimo de' Medici

Còsimo di Giovanni degli Mèdici was the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance; also known as "Cosimo 'the Elder'" and "Cosimo Pater Patriae" .-Biography:Born in Florence, Cosimo inherited both his wealth and his expertise in...

. He moved to Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, and here he gained a renowned status as a banker.

When he returned to Florence he commissioned Benedetto da Maiano

Benedetto da Maiano

Benedetto da Maiano was an Italian sculptor of the early Renaissance.Born in the village of Maiano , he started his career as companion of his brother, the architect Giuliano da Maiano. When he reached the age of thirty he started training under the sculptor Antonio Rossellino...

 for the construction of the famous family palace

Palazzo Strozzi

Palazzo Strozzi is a palace in Florence, Italy.-History:The construction of the palace begun in 1489 by Benedetto da Maiano, for Filippo Strozzi the Elder, a rival of the Medici who had returned to the city in November 1466 and desired the most magnificent palace to assert his family's continued...

; however, he died before the completion of the works, in 1534. He also had Maiano, along with Filippino Lippi

Filippino Lippi

Filippino Lippi was an Italian painter working during the High Renaissance in Florence, Italy.-Biography:...

, build a notable chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella. Completed in 1502, it houses Strozzi's remains.

Family

He married two times. With Fiammetta Adimari (1466), who gave him five children:

• Maria
• Fiammetta
• Giambattista (died 1484)
• Alfonso (died 1534)
• Alessandro (1471–1473)

and with Salvaggia Gianfigliazzi (1477), who gave him:

• Lorenzo (1482–1549), who founded the line of the Princes of Forano
• Giambattista Strozzi (died 1538), husband of Clarice de' Medici
  Clarice de' Medici
  Clarice de' Medici was the daughter of Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and Alfonsina Orsini.Born in Florence, she was the granddaughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, niece of Pope Leo X and sister to Lorenzo II de' Medici...
  
  , best known as Filippo Strozzi the Younger
  Filippo Strozzi the Younger
  thumb|250px|A view of [[Palazzo Strozzi]] in Florence.Filippo Strozzi the Younger was an Italian condottiero and banker, the most famous member of the Florentine Strozzi family in the Renaissance.-Biography:...
  
  .
• Lucrezia (born 1486)
• Caterina