 In 1385, Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined the Guild of Winemakers, and this is the date usually taken as the start of the wine business.The fame of their wine expanded over the years, to the extent that in 1506 they could afford to pay 4,000 florins for the Palazzo Antinori, built for the Boni family in the 1460s.At this time, Alessandro Antinori was one of the richest men in Florence, but like many Florentines he was soon bankrupted by the ravages of Charles V of Spain and the economic effect of his New World gold.