The life of a Renaissance gunmaker. Bonaccorso Ghiberti and the development of Florentine artillery in the late fifteenth century

This article examines the technological development of the artillery production in Florence during the last two decades of the fifteenth century, before and after the assimilation of the most efficient French ordnance into Italian warfare. The study starts from the notes, the drawings, the accounts and the guns produced by Bonaccorso di Vettorio Ghiberti (1451-1516), the heir of the foundry of his illustrious ancestor Lorenzo di Cione (1378-1455). Data have been collected from the historical archives of the Istituto degli Innocenti, from the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale of Florence and from the Florentine State Archive. The results of the archival research demonstrate the existence of a lively and reactive war-related industry in Renaissance Italy, aware of new ideas and new techniques, and examines the assimilation of the most efficient French ordnance into Italian warfare and into the practices of artisans. The paper highlights, moreover, the leading role of public demand in fostering military innovations.