Novels in Florence #34: The Stones of Florence

Renowned for her sharp literary style, essayst and fiction writer Mary McCarthy (1912-1989) offers a unique history of Florence, from its inception to the dominant role it came to play in the world of art, architecture and Italian culture that captures the brilliant Florentine spirit and revisits the legendary figures - Dante, Michelangelo, Machiavelli and others who exemplify it so iconically.

Her most cherished sights and experiences color this timeless, graceful portrait of a city that's as famous as it is alluring.

The Stones of Florence is a blend of expression and action about a city so loved that visit is never enough. Throughout this work, Mary Mccarthy offers lucid insights on the relevant history of this superlative city. Many of the author's most cherished sights, sounds, and smells come to life in this esteemed and now classic volume. This book is ideal for reading on the plane ride to Italy, but it's also perfect for armchair travelers, art lovers, and students of the Renaissance. 

Mary McCarthy was a short-story writer, bestelling novelist, essayst and critic. a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, she also wrote Venice Observed, Birds of America, Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, among other books.

The Stones of Florence, Mary McCarthy, Mariner Books, 2002

Novels in Florence #31: Florentine Drama for Convent and Festival: Seven Sacred Plays

A talented poet and a gifted dramatist, Antonia Pulci (1452-1501) pursued two vocations, first as a wife and later as founder of an Augustinian order.
During and after her marriage, Pulci authored several sacre rappresentazioni—one-act plays on Christian subjects. Often written to be performed by nuns for female audiences, Pulci's plays focus closely on the concerns of women.
Exploring the choice that Renaissance women had between marriage, the convent, or uncloistered religious life, Pulci's female characters do not merely glorify the religious life at the expense of the secular.
Rather, these women consider and deal with the unwanted advances of men, negligent and abusive husbands and suitors, the dangers of childbearing, and the disappointments of child rearing. They manage households and kingdoms successfully. Pulci's heroines are thoughtful; their capacity for analysis and action regularly resolve the moral, filial, and religious crises of their husbands and admirers. (from book jacket)
Florentine Drama for Convent and Festival: Seven Sacred Plays, University of Chicago Press, 1996

Novels in Florence #29: April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici

One of the world's leading historians of Renaissance Italy brings to life here the vibrant--and violent--society of fifteenth-century Florence. His disturbing narrative opens up an entire culture, revealing the dark side of Renaissance man and politician Lorenzo de' Medici.
On a Sunday in April 1478, assassins attacked Lorenzo and his brother as they attended Mass in the cathedral of Florence. Lorenzo scrambled to safety as Giuliano bled to death on the cathedral floor. April Blood moves outward in time and space from that murderous event, unfolding a story of tangled passions, ambition, treachery, and revenge. The conspiracy was led by one of the city's most noble clans, the Pazzi, financiers who feared and resented the Medici's swaggering new role as political bosses--but the web of intrigue spread through all of Italy. Bankers, mercenaries, the Duke of Urbino, the King of Naples, and Pope Sixtus IV entered secretly into the plot. Florence was plunged into a peninsular war, and Lorenzo was soon fighting for his own and his family's survival.
The failed assassination doomed the Pazzi. Medici revenge was swift and brutal--plotters were hanged or beheaded, innocents were hacked to pieces, and bodies were put out to dangle from the windows of the government palace. All remaining members of the larger Pazzi clan were forced to change their surname, and every public sign or symbol of the family was expunged or destroyed.
April Blood offers us a fresh portrait of Renaissance Florence, where dazzling artistic achievements went side by side with violence, craft, and bare-knuckle politics. At the center of the canvas is the figure of Lorenzo the Magnificent--poet, statesman, connoisseur, patron of the arts, and ruthless "boss of bosses." This extraordinarily vivid account of a turning point in the Italian Renaissance is Lauro Martines, former Professor of European History at the University of California, Los Angeles, is renowned for his books on the Italian Renaissance. The author of Power and Imagination: City-States in Renaissance Italy, and most recently of Strong Words: Writing and Social Strain in the Italian Renaissance, he reviews for The Times Literary Supplement and lives in London with his wife, novelist Julia O'Faolainund to become a lasting work of history. (from jacket notes)
April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici, Lauro Martines, Oxford University Press, 2004

Novels in Florence #27: The Memory Cathedral

The Memory Cathedral is the secret history of Leonardo da Vinci, adventurer, traveller, inventor, and lover of Lorenzo the Magnificent′s mistress.

Based on Leonardo′s own notebooks, this expansive, multi-layered novel is ostensibly about Leonardo′s flying machines.

But it is really a magical exploration of the man, his drives, his loves, his friends, and fabulous inventions. It takes place in the Florence of Lorenzo de Medici and in the fabled, mythical east. Indeed, there is real evidence that Leonardo travelled to Egypt and Persia under the protection of the Devatdar of Syria, Lieutenant of the Sacred Sultan of Babylon.

Imagine what would happen if Leonardo de Vinci had been given the chance to put his fabulous inventions to use - his bombs and machine guns and submarines and tanks and flying machines. Imagine Leonardo and a young Niccolo Machiavelli flying in a balloon over Egypt. Imagine Leonardo′s closest friend Sandro Botticelli being exorcised in Florence and riding through deserts with the Caliph of Egypt. Imagine living in the dangerous day to day world of the Renaissance and knowing intimately the greatest personages of the age.

That is the experience of reading The Memory Cathedral. (from jacket notes - Bantam Books)

The Memory Cathedral, Jack Dann, Bantam Books, 1996

Novels in Florence #24: Lost Girls: Sex and Death in Renaissance Florence

In 1554, a group of idealistic laywomen founded a home for homeless and orphaned adolescent girls in one of the worst neighborhoods in Florence. Of the 526 girls who lived in the home during its fourteen-year tenure, only 202 left there alive.
Struck by the unusually high mortality rate, Nicholas Terpstra sets out to determine what killed the lost girls of the House of Compassion shelter (Casa della Pietà).
Reaching deep into the archives' letters, ledgers, and records from both inside and outside the home, he slowly pieces together the tragic story.
The Casa welcomed girls in bad health and with little future, hoping to save them from an almost certain life of poverty and drudgery. Yet this "safe" house was cruelly dangerous. Victims of Renaissance Florence's sexual politics, these young women were at the disposal of the city's elite men, who treated them as property meant for their personal pleasure.
With scholarly precision and journalistic style, Terpstra uncovers and chronicles a series of disturbing leads that point to possible reasons so many girls died: hints of routine abortions, basic medical care for sexually transmitted diseases, and appalling conditions in the textile factories where the girls worked.
Church authorities eventually took the Casa della Pietà away from the women who had founded it and moved it to a better part of Florence. Its sordid past was hidden, until now, in an official history that bore little resemblance to the orphanage's true origins. Terpstra's meticulous investigation not only uncovers the sad fate of the lost girls of the Casa della Pietà but also explores broader themes, including gender relations, public health, church politics, and the challenges girls and adolescent women faced in Renaissance Florence. (from jacket notes - John Hopkins U.P.)
Lost Girls: Sex and Death in Renaissance Florence, Nicholas Terpstra, John Hopkins University, 2010

Novels in Florence #19: The Lost Madonna

Thirty years after leaving Florence with a broken heart, Suzanne Cunningham is thrilled to finally be going back to teach art history.
But preparing for her course, she comes across something she never expected. A book reveals that a small but significant painting, Madonna and Child, was destroyed in the flood of 1966. But Suzanne knows this isn't true.
She knows, because with the help of her former lover, Stefano, she rescued it-after the infamous flood...
Now back in the magical city that once captured her heart, Suzanne is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to that priceless painting-and to the man who forever changed the course of her life... jacket notes - Berkley Books)
The Lost Madonna, Kelly Jones, Berkley Books, 2007

Novels in Florence #18: The Other David

Two Davids. Michelangelo's great statue and now a rare “lost” portrait of the same model. Was the painting the real thing...or merely the brushstroke-perfect invention of a super-forger?
It was art historian Andrea Perkins’ job to find out--and it seemed to be someone else’s job to get her out of the picture.
Permanently.
There were two hired killers stalking her through the cool marble halls and obscure alleyways of Florence. And less than one chance for Andrea to outwit an opponent more ruthless that the bloodiest Medici... (jacket notes - Thorndyke Press).
This is the first adventure of the art historian Andrea Perkins.
The Other David: A Novel of Suspense, Carolyn Coker, Thorndyke Press, 1984

Novels in Florence #16: The Stars Dispose

The Befanini family rules the kitchens of the de Medici and their allies, serving well by fortifying their patrons' reputations and influence with all the power that a brilliant meal can supply. Young Ginevra Befanini serves more directly as companion and confidante to Catherine de Medici, while Ginevra's brother Tommaso is learning his family's craft and enhancing it with his own ideas and talents. The political forces of Renaissance Florence pull and push at them; plague stalks them; and other alien forces move through the kitchens and the city, menacing Caterina and her friends.
Historically precise, culinarily evocative (at the very least, have some pan di campagna and olives on hand as you read), and fantastically inventive, Michaela Roessner's writing will sweep you into the mazelike streets of Florence and the ominous tension of sorcerous conflict. (from amazon.com)
The Stars Dispose, Michela Roessner, Tor Books, 1997

Novels in Florence #15: The Confessions of Catherine de Medici

(notes of the author from amazon.com)
I found Catherine de Medici to be both a perfect subject and enormous challenge for my next work of historical fiction. Though I’d known about her for years, I soon discovered during my research how little I had truly understood her. Few queens are as notorious as this woman who ruled France during the 16th century, renowned for her ruthlessness and accused of heinous crimes, including the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Obscured by her own dark legend, Catherine lurks in the shadows of history as the perennial black widow, weaving intrigue in her Louvre palace apartments even as outside her window, Paris lies bathed in blood.
Catherine was born in a time of deep religious conflict, when the idealism of Europe’s early Renaissance had given way to the zealous Protestant Reformation. England, Germany, and the Low Countries embraced this new faith, while imperial Spain tenaciously combated the spread of what was seen as heresy. France found itself trapped between the tenets of the old faith and innovation of the new one--and the struggle that ensued is marked by its fervor and savagery. It is also dominated by the widowed queen-mother, Catherine de Medici.
When someone lives an eventful life in a tumultuous time, there’s always more to her story than history can tell us. Catherine de Medici is a figure of lurid speculation but she had dreams and aspirations; hopes and disillusions. Yet unlike Elizabeth I, who commands our respect with her virginal splendor; or Mary of Scots, who elicits sympathy for her romantic martyrdom, Catherine has not been allowed much compassion. We forget that in the end, like all of us, she was human.
This is the flesh-and-blood Catherine de Medici readers will meet in my book: the teenage Florentine heiress sent to France to marry a prince she does not love; the determined wife enduring years in the shadow of her husband’s icy mistress; the powerful regent fighting for her country; the fierce mother with her brood of children; and the bold queen whose alliance with an enigmatic rebel plunges her into a labyrinth of passion, betrayal, and murder. You will also meet the seer Nostradamus, who shares a prophetic gift with Catherine; the haughty duke of Guise, whose ambitions could bring about France’s ruin; and Catherine’s own children--weak Francois, married to Mary of Scots yet terrified of becoming king; fervent Charles, scarred by the fears of his childhood; gallant Henri, whose courage hides a secret; deformed Hercule, frantic to prove his worth; and beautiful Margot, whose thwarted desires will wreak terrible vengeance.
Unlike the legend, Catherine’s true story is full of drama, courage, triumph and tragedy; set in a complex era of glamorous spectacle and lethal deceit, where one woman faced the conflict between faith and survival and did everything she had to, to protect those she loved.
I hope that once you read her words, you will find her as fascinating as I did. I hope you enjoy The Confessions of Catherine de Medici.
The Confessions of Catherine De Medici, G.W. Gortner, Ballantine Books, 2010

Novels in Florence #13: A Thread of Grace

Mary Doria Russell's extraordinary and complex historical novel, A Thread of Grace, is the kind of book that you will find yourself haunted by long after finishing the last page. It opens with a group of Jewish refugees being escorted to safe-keeping by Italian soldiers. After making the arduous journey over a steep mountain pass, they are welcomed into a small village with warm food and clean beds. They have barely laid their heads to rest when news is received that Benito Mussolini has just surrendered Italy to Hitler, putting them in danger yet again. This opening sequence is a grim foreshadowing of the heart-breaking journey these characters will experience in their struggle for survival.
The rich fictional narrative is woven through the factual military maneuvers and political games at the end of WW II, sharing a little-known story of a group of Italian citizens that sheltered more than 40,000 Jews from grueling work camp executions. Rather than the bleak and hopeless feeling that might be expected, the novel has the opposite effect; it reminds us that just as there will always be war, crime, and death, so too will there be good people who selflessly sacrifice themselves to ease the suffering of others. Perhaps best of all, Russell succinctly opens and closes her writing with short pieces that bookend the story with the force of a freight train. Her moving finale wraps up her narrative in the present day, with a death bed scene that's sure to rip the heart out of readers of every faith and ancestry. A note in the reader's guide tells us that Russell flipped a coin to determine the fate of some of the characters. This may be upsetting for many readers, particularly those used to Hollywood endings, but it does serve as a frank reminder of the arbitrary nature of war and death. (from amazon.com)
A Thread of Grace, Mary Doria Russell, Ballantine Books, 2005

Novels in Florence #12: Cupid and the Silent Goddess

The painting Allegory with Venus and Cupid has long fascinated visitors to London’s National Gallery, as well as the millions more who have seen it reproduced in books. It is one of the most beautiful paintings of the nude ever made.
In 1544, Duke Cosimo de’ Medici of Florence commissioned the artist Bronzino to create the painting to be sent as a diplomatic gift to King François I of France.
As well as the academic mystery of what the strange figures in the painting represent, there is a human mystery: who were the models in the Florence of 1544 who posed for the gods and strange creatures?
Alan Fisk’s Cupid and the Silent Goddess imagines how the creation of this painting might have touched the lives of everyone who was involved with it: Bronzino’s apprentice Giuseppe, the mute and mysterious Angelina who is forced to model for Venus, the brutal sculptor Baccio Bandinelli and his son, and the good-hearted nun Sister Benedicta and her friend the old English priest Father Fleccia, both secret practitioners of alchemy.
As the painting takes shape, it causes episodes of fear and cruelty, but the ending lies perhaps in the gift of Venus.
'A witty and entertaining romp set in the seedy world of Italian Renaissance artists. Award-winning historical novelist Elizabeth Chadwick (The Falcons of Montabard, The Winter Mantle).
'Alan Fisk, in his book Cupid and the Silent Goddess, captures the atmosphere of sixteenth-century Florence and the world of the artists excellently. This is a fascinating imaginative reconstruction of the events during the painting of Allegory with Venus and Cupid.' Marina Oliver, author of many historical novels and of Writing Historical Fiction. (from jacket notes - Twenty First Century Publisher).
Cupid and the Silent Goddess, Alan Fisk, Twenty First Century Publisher, 2003

Novels in Florence #8: The Enchantress of Florence

Trying to describe a Salman Rushdie novel is like trying to describe music to someone who has never heard it--you can fumble with a plot summary but you won't be able to convey the wonder of his dazzling prose or the imaginative complexity of his vision. At its heart, The Enchantress of Florence is about the power of story--whether it is the imagined life of a Mughal queen, or the devastating secret held by a silver-tongued Florentine. Make no mistake, it is Rushdie who is the true "enchanter" of this story, conjuring readers into his gilded fairy tale from the very first sentence: "In the day's last light the glowing lake below the palace-city looked like a sea of molten gold."
At once bawdy, gorgeous, gory, and hilarious, The Enchantress of Florence is a study in contradiction, highlighted in its barbarian philosopher-king who detests his bloodthirsty heritage even while he carries it out. Full of rich sentences running nearly the length of a page, Rushdie's 10th novel blends fact and fable into a challenging but satisfying read. (from amazon.com)
The Enchantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie, Random House, 2008

Novels in Florence #6: The Birth of Venus

Sarah Dunant's gorgeous and mesmerizing novel, Birth of Venus, draws readers into a turbulent 15th-century Florence, a time when the lavish city, steeped in years of Medici family luxury, is suddenly besieged by plague, threat of invasion, and the righteous wrath of a fundamentalist monk. Dunant masterfully blends fact and fiction, seamlessly interweaving Florentine history with the coming-of-age story of a spirited 14-year-old girl. As Florence struggles in Savonarola's grip, a serial killer stalks the streets, the French invaders creep closer, and young Alessandra Cecchi must surrender her "childish" dreams and navigate her way into womanhood. Readers are quickly seduced by the simplicity of her unconventional passions that are more artistic than domestic:
Dancing is one of the many things I should be good at that I am not. Unlike my sister. Plautilla can move across the floor like water and sing a stave of music like a song bird, while I, who can translate both Latin and Greek faster than she or my brothers can read it, have club feet on the dance floor and a voice like a crow. Though I swear if I were to paint the scale I could do it in a flash: shining gold leaf for the top notes falling through ochres and reds into hot purple and deepest blue.Alessandra's story, though central, is only one part of this multi-faceted and complex historical novel. Dunant paints a fascinating array of women onto her dark canvas, each representing the various fates of early Renaissance women: Alessandra's lovely (if simple) sister Plautilla is interested only in marrying rich and presiding over a household; the brave Erila, Alessandra's North African servant (and willing accomplice) has such a frank understanding of the limitations of her sex that she often escapes them; and Signora Cecchi, Alessandra's beautiful but weary mother tries to encourage yet temper the passions of her wayward daughter.
A luminous and lush novel, The Birth of Venus, at its heart, is a mysterious and sensual story with razor-sharp teeth. Like Alessandra, Dunant has a painter's eye--her writing is rich and evocative, luxuriating in colors and textures of the city, the people, and the art of 15th-century Florence. (from amazon.com)
The Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant, Random House, 2004