Stefano Porcari

Porcari trained as a lawyer, and in 1427 and 1428 was elected capitano del popolo of Florence under the protection of Pope Martin V. There he met the humanist scholar Leonardo Bruni and the Camaldolese monk Ambrose Traversari.

While in Florence, it was Porcari's habit, during public celebrations, to give speeches from a balcony on the Palazzo della Signoria, exhorting the people to honor justice, as the foundation of the commune.

[3] After his return to Italy in 1430, he held several positions in Italian communes such as the podestà of Bologna (1432), Siena (1434), Orvieto (1435) and was also governor of the fortress of Trani.

When the latter died and before the new pope was elected, he repeatedly addressed the populace to overthrow the papal rule, and to replace them by one based on the ancient Roman republic.

However, his participation in other plots (including one connected with the crowning of Frederick III in Rome), and an inflammatory speech in the Piazza Navona against the government, led the pope to exile him to Bologna.