It was the custom of Pietro, who was a man that did not confide in any one, when going or returning from the abovenamed Gastello to Perugia, to carry all the money which he possessed at the time about his person; this being known, certain men waylaid him at a place on the road, and robbed him of all that he had, but, at his earnest entreaty, they spared his life for the love of God. By means of the measures adopted, and the assistance of his friends, of whom lie had a good number, notwithstanding what has been said, he recovered a great part of the money that had been taken from him; he was nevertheless very near dying of grief for this misfortune. Pietro possessed but very little religion, and could never be made to believe in the immortality of the soul, nay, most obstinately did he reject all good counsel, with words suited to the stubbornness of his marble-hard brain. He placed all his hopes in the goods of fortune, and would have undertaken any thing for money; he gained great riches indeed, and bought, as well as built, several large houses in Florence; at Perugia also, and at Gastello della Pieve, he bought a considerable amount of property.[1] Pietro took a very beautiful girl to wife, and she bore him children:[2] he is said to have had so much pleasure in seeing her wear becoming head-dresses, both abroad and at home, that he was occasionally known to arrange this part of her toilet with his own hands. Finally, having attained to the age of seventy-eight, Pietro finished the course of his life in the Gastello della Pieve, where he was honourably buried in the year 1524.[3]
- ↑ Mezzanotte and other writers defend Pietro against the charges of irreligion and avarice brought against him by Vasari, and there is ground to hope that the biographer has spoken with too little consideration, even from what he has himself related of the Prior and his ultra-marine. —See ante, p. 315. See also Orsini, Vite, &c., 1804; and Pascoli, ut supra, 1732.
- ↑ Of these he had three, Giovan Battista, Francesco and Michael Angelo, the last most probably so named, observes an Italian annotator, before the disagreement of Pietro with Buonarroti.
- ↑ Pietro died at Fontignano, and not at Castello della Pieve. Neither
Mezzanotte, who asserts that the work was not in fresco but distemper, a Birth of Christ namely, with figures of the Saints Rocco and Sebastiano. But other writers cite various works as performed by Pietro at Castello (now Citta) della Pieve. One of the most important is an Adoration of the Magi in fresco, now much injured by the humidity of the place. The Madonna in this picture is said to be by Raphael, as is also a little dog who is barking at some horses.
