See too the letter written by him to Matteo da Bastia, Alberti, _Opere_, vol.iv.
p.

397.
[33] This ancestral palace of the Medici passed in 1659 to the Marchese Gabriele Riccardi, from the Duke Francesco II.
[34] Von Reumont, _Lorenzo de' Medici_, vol.ii.pp.

187-191, may be consulted for an interesting account of the building of this Casa Grande by Filippo Strozzi.

The preparations were made with great caution, lest it should seem that a work too magnificent for a simple citizen was being undertaken; in particular, Filippo so contrived that the costly _opus rusticum_ employed in the construction of the basement should appear to have been forced upon him.

This is characteristic of Florence in the days of Cosimo.