What was the name of Michelangelo's father?

Michelangelo’s father was named Lodovico Buonarroti.

His fuller name appears in biographies as Lodovico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni, and Michelangelo’s own birth name was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. “Lodovico” is also commonly rendered “Ludovico,” but the stored form identifies the correct person and is a fair quiz answer.

Lodovico belonged to a respected Florentine family and held government posts, including the office of podestà at Caprese when Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475. The family soon returned to Florence, where Michelangelo was raised. His father initially opposed an artistic career because the Buonarrotis considered artistic labor socially beneath their status.

Michelangelo’s mother, Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena, died in 1481, when he was six. The young artist later entered Domenico Ghirlandaio’s workshop and studied sculpture in the Medici circle. A family connection to marble also shaped his childhood: Lodovico owned property and a small marble quarry at Settignano, helping explain the material’s early presence in Michelangelo’s life.