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Cosimo de' Medici, Duke of Florence, to Giorgio Vasari
Livorno, 20 March 1557

So, if I understand correctly, Florence, the city that God entrusted to my care, is now infested not only with conspiracies of murderous nuns but with seditious plebs too? Enough. I must put an end to all this. Find me this Marco Moro, arrest him and throw him in a damp cell.

I regret getting rid of those lions that were stinking up the palace.

Do love a map (even one that looks like it needs a chapter of context to be understood....)

Perspective(s), by Laurent Binet (2023, transl. 2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An epistolary mystery set in the midst of the political, social, artistic, and religious upheavals of Renaissance Florence.

Review: An ‘entertaining‘ and accessible Binet novel is still smarter and stranger than most literary fiction. ⬇️

An epistolary novel? A mystery? Art? Italian history? How could I not read this?

#DoubleSpin @TheAromaofBooks

I admit that I confused this family with the Borgia family. They were very similar, in fact, so I don't feel too foolish. They started as bankers in Florence. It seemed to me that every other generation was patrons to the arts, while the other generations were lazy and/or violent. The family was often fighting the papacy except when they had a son or nephew as a pope. I'm glad I read it. I learned more about Italy's history before unification.

I couldn't finish it. Too many characters to remember. The narration was at times fluid: Dante Alighieri's adventures occasionally stopped for explanations, descriptions of the places, the landscapes that surrounded him, the customs and traditions. After that the story returned to Dante Alighieri and I was so lost with all those useless explanations, that every time I had to go back several pages to understand where I had left off.

#Read2025 #Wardens2025

💖💖💖

There is no proof that I didn't need this book.

Pretty good.

We're all enjoying a quiet morning of reading before I have to get ready for work. Almost finished with this #historicalfiction that I read for my LIS course this week.

#medici #arthistory #class #scandal #thievery #Italy #florence