The big Gianfigliazzi family, who were involved in banking and commerce, owned several properties in the Lungarno Corsini neighborhood as well as via dei Tornabuoni.
The Gianfigliazzi purchased the residences on the Tornabuoni side, particularly the house that was once the tower of Guolfa family of the Ruggerini. A stone seat in the roadway was assigned a specific location, as was customary in front of the major aristocratic palaces.
But the bench was meant for Dalmatian things, not for words, while one waited to be met by the building’s owner. So much so that Pancone dei Ragusei (not to be confused with the people who live in Ragusa, Sicily) adopted the moniker.
Traders transported a variety of commodities from the East to the region that is now Croatia-Montenegro-Bosnia, formerly known as the Republic of Ragusa. The commodities traveled through Florence on their way to Northern Europe following their landing at Ancona on the Marche coast.
And here is where a lot of genres, like cinnabar, were bought. The word “raguso” connotes someone who is stingy or a usurer in the Adriatic region.
