Giovanni was born in 1485, son of Pier Andrea of Bernardo da Verrazzano and Fiametta Capelli , both Florentine nobles and direct descendants of the original Verrazzano family, - according to the cosmographer and cartographer Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, amongst others. From a very young age Giovanni was instructed in the pleasure of adventure, such that he decided to visit the Orient purely to further his education and widen his experience, and the date of this project was sooner than anticipated due to intolerance of the fatuous government of Piero de Medici. His first destinations were Egypt and Syria, places that were considered in that period almost unreachable and cloaked in mystery. This information comes from a letter written in August 1524 by a Florentine merchant resident in Lyon: "in Cairo where he was for several years, but not only in Egypt and Syria, but in almost all of the known world".
|
 |
|
Between 1507 and 1508 Verrazzano went to France, where he was received by the very Christian King Francis I, whose court had become the destination for many illustrious Florentines such as Leonardo da Vinci, Tiziano, Andrea del Sarto, Benvenuto Cellini, the poet Luigi Alamanni, the architect Giovanni Giocondo and many others, all of whom had fled to France to find the necessary tranquillity far from Florence bloodied by the battles between the opposing factions and oppressed by an undistinguished period of the Medici government.
Having established his residence in Dieppe, a small port on the Atlantic coast of France, Giovanni came into contact with the most important members of the navy, the most capable ship owners and the most courageous sailors, with whom he often had the opportunity to talk and fraternise and even collaborate with work at the port. He was probably no more than 22 when he embarked on ships taking part in important expeditions. The Globe and the Map of the World which he built himself with the help of his brother Girolamo, and which he had meticulously improved almost to perfection, were well known amongst the intellectuals of the time and all those who nurtured a passion for the mysteries of the sea.
The good reputation of Giovanni in the small town of Dieppe spread rapidly to many other circles in society - cultural, nautical and scientific, and he was even praised by people close to the King. The King himself held Giovanni in high esteem and awaited the right occasion to meet him personally; this was not tardy in arriving and this first meeting was followed by many others.
Giovanni’s presence at court was greatly appreciated both during important meetings and diplomatic reunions, and also during the simple but lively family discussions where he liberally sprinkled his conversation with the typical Florentine sense of humour and thus endeared himself to everyone.
|
