The Montefeltro Conspiracy
A Renaissance Mystery Decoded
Marcello Simonetta
- A
- brutal
- murder,
- a
- nefarious
- plot,
- a
- coded
- letter.
- After
- five
- hundred
- years,
- the
- most
- notorious
- mystery
- of
- the
- Renaissance
- is
- finally
- solved.The
- Italian
- Renaissance
- is
- remembered
- as
- much
- for
- intrigue
- as
- it
- is
- for
- art,
- with
- papal
- politics
- and
- infighting
- among
- Italy’s
- many
- city-states
- providing
- the
- grist
- for
- Machiavelli’s
- classic
- work
- on
- take-no-prisoners
- politics,
- The
- Prince.
- The
- attempted
- assassination
- of
- the
- Medici
- brothers
- in
- the
- Duomo
- in
- Florence
- in
- 1478
- is
- one
- of
- the
- best-known
- examples
- of
- the
- machinations
- endemic
- to
- the
- age.
- While
- the
- assailants
- were
- the
- Medici’s
- rivals,
- the
- Pazzi
- family,
- questions
- have
- always
- lingered
- about
- who
- really
- orchestrated
- the
- attack,
- which
- has
- come
- to
- be
- known
- as
- the
- Pazzi
- Conspiracy.More
- than
- five
- hundred
- years
- later,
- Marcello
- Simonetta,
- working
- in
- a
- private
- archive
- in
- Italy,
- stumbled
- upon
- a
- coded
- letter
- written
- by
- Federico
- da
- Montefeltro,
- the
- Duke
- of
- Urbino,
- to
- Pope
- Sixtus
- IV.
- Using
- a
- codebook
- written
- by
- his
- own
- ancestor
- to
- crack
- its
- secrets,
- Simonetta
- unearthed
- proof
- of
- an
- all-out
- power
- grab
- by
- the
- Pope
- for
- control
- of
- Florence.
- Montefeltro,
- long
- believed
- to
- be
- a
- close
- friend
- of
- Lorenzo
- de
- Medici,
- was
- in
- fact
- conspiring
- with
- the
- Pope
- to
- unseat
- the
- Medici
- and
- put
- the
- more
- malleable
- Pazzi
- in
- their
- place.In
- The
- Montefeltro
- Conspiracy,
- Simonetta
- unravels
- this
- plot,
- showing
- not
- only
- how
- the
- plot
- came
- together
- but
- how
- its
- failure
- (only
- one
- of
- the
- Medici
- brothers,
- Giuliano,
- was
- killed;
- Lorenzo
- survived)
- changed
- the
- course
- of
- Italian
- and
- papal
- history
- for
- generations.
- In
- the
- course
- of
- his
- gripping
- narrative,
- we
- encounter
- the
- period’s
- most
- colorful
- characters,
- relive
- its
- tumultuous
- politics,
- and
- discover
- that
- two
- famous
- paintings,
- including
- one
- in
- the
- Sistine
- Chapel,
- contain
- the
- Medici’s
- astounding revenge.
