In Renaissance Italy, marriage transcended a simple tie between individuals; it was a financial and political merger between families. Affluent Italians thus used strategically planned marriages as political tools to solidify their social influence. Over the course of several years, elite members of society arranged marriages for their children, and these bonds were aptly celebrated with extravagant, four-step weddings. The final step in this process was the wedding procession. In order to announce a new marriage and garner support from the community, a bride was paraded through town from her father’s house to her husband’s home. This event symbolized the transition from the bride’s former life with her family to her new one with her husband. Just as marriage played a meaningful role in Italian society, the wedding ceremonies themselves were of great significance.

Italian wedding chests, called cassoni, played an integral role in the wedding procession. Prior to the wedding, a groom ordered a pair of cassoni to be featured in the nuptial festivities and to later sit in the newlyweds’ home. These chests were elaborately decorated with paintings and carvings according to the family’s wealth. As wedding processors carried the cassoni alongside the bride, the intricacy of their decoration flaunted the merging families’ social and economic statuses. The chests also carried the physical portion of a bride’s dowry, which consisted of her family’s valuable possessions, thus further advertising the family’s wealth. Aside from wealth, the scenes painted on the sides of cassoni offered insight into their owners’ values. For example, a cassone from the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum portrays a story about Lucretia, a woman who exemplified the virtues of honor and marital chastity. Cassoni were thus important forms of communication between families and their communities during the wedding march.