The Black Prince of Florence The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro dé Medici by Catherine Fletcher

The Black Prince of Florence The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro dé Medici by Catherine Fletcher a book published by Oxford University Press.

If you are a passionate of Italy, if you fall in love for Florence because once you visited it or just you want to discover more about Florentine's Rinascimental history, this book is for you.

In an engaging tale that will keep you intrigued, we will discover the most powerful family of Florence in the 1500, the one of dé Medici focusing in particular in the character of Alessandro, called the Black Prince because a bastard of Lorenzo and Simunetta a lady of oriental origins and a slave at the Medici's mansion probably and so black if compared to the rest of the family.
Simunetta, his mother, was married but for what it is known, she made happy also other men of dè Medici, but probably the dad was Lorenzo the Magnificent.

The problem of a new guide when Lorenzo dé Medici called the Magnificent died for syphilis. There were two bastards: one Ippolito son of Giuliano and the other one Alessandro son of Lorenzo.

At the end the choice fell on Alessandro.

Lovers of weapons, Alessandro loved to collecting and presenting them to his friends. He did all his best for bettering the condition of Florence  and surrounding areas, during his seven years of reign, Urbino included in his jurisdiction. He didn't spend a lot for Cortona it is remarked, just 1000 lire.

As many other powerful people at the end he was killed without too many compliments for a conspiracy. Trust me: at that time it was a miracle to staying alive if you were an important man. I discovered that there was a certain Agostino da Gubbio tailor of Alessandro.

Beautiful biography, reading this book was like to meet the protagonists of this fascinating book thanks to a wonderful writing-style and a fresh historic beautiful real tale. The author loved to treat the topic and that is why this book is so powerful.


I thank NetGalley and Oxford University Press for the digital copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori