Narrare le élites urbane: il caso dei Benedetti dalla Palermo del Quattrocento

This contribution employs prosopography to analyze the rise and decline of the Benedetti family, originally from Pisa, in fifteenth-century Palermo. Drawing on unpublished archival sources, the case study reconstructs the complex interplay between royal careers, municipal offices, matrimonial strategies, and economic investments, demonstrating how urban wealth was derived not only from credit and landownership but also through strategic negotiation with royal taxation authorities. The family’s history serves as a representative example of social mobility and integration in fifteenth-century Palermo, providing a valuable perspective on the processes of urban power redefinition in the Aragonese Mediterranean.