Cesare Borgia’s Sword: ‘the Queen of Swords’
Cesare Borgia’s sword is justifiably named La Regina delle Spade or The Queen of Swords, and she is a masterpiece of Renaissance craftsmanship. Its blade, scabbard, and decorations tell a story of power, divinity, and legacy, reflecting Cesare’s self-fashioned image as a ruler destined for greatness, like Julius Caesar. The sword is a cinquedea of which […]
Under the Same Shadow: How the Borgias’ Black Legend Tainted Machiavelli
Spit out by many and hailed by others, Machiavelli is a man whose book, The Prince, has been scrutinized by the Church, analyzed by politicians, dissected by academia, and debated by the brightest minds on the planet. Its content has sparked a myriad of interpretations. However, one thing is certain: to truly understand The Prince, […]
The Life and Times of Cesare Borgia. Following in the footsteps of Machiavelli’s Prince.
It is odd to realize that nine years ago, the ‘dubious’ fictional tv-series ‘The Borgias’ unleashed in me an insatiable curiosity about the Borgia family and grew into a true passion that consumed many years of my life. Every spare moment, I sat with my nose in books, watched documentaries, read biographies, theses, doctoral studies, […]
Obscure Borgia-Related Places (4): Senigallia
Senigallia is a tiny town squeezed between its big brother Ancona towards the east, and Pesaro and Fano towards the west. Its back is protected by the gorgeous Apennines and in front, there is only blue blue sea. Today, the town is certainly ‘Italy off the beaten track’ and on its velvet beaches, you find […]
A prophecy fulfilled…
515 years ago, during the night of 11 March, not more than a flash in time, Machiavelli’s Prince, Cesare Borgia died… In Viana, Spain, this legendary Captain General never stopped dreaming of his own grand future despite four years of imprisonment, agony and boredom. With every fiber in his body, he hates pope Julius II, […]
Obscure Borgia-Related Places: (3) The Castles of Chinchilla and La Mota in Spain
Unfortunately, little is known about Cesare Borgia’s life in Spain when he was imprisoned in the castles of Chinchilla and La Mota. Still, his life over there was not without adventure nor did he sit quietly in his rooms accepting the harsh treatment of Lady Fortuna. In September 1504, exactly 62 years after Alonso Borgia, […]
Cesare Borgia, Prince of the Renaissance
On this day in 1475, one of Italy’s greatest Renaissance men, Cesare Borgia, was born in Subiaco. From a precocious little boy, he grew up to be extremely intelligent, physically strong, courageous and attractive. Some even said he was Italy’s most handsome man. Destined for the cloth, he became a cardinal at 17 but fate […]
The bones of Pope Alexander VI were stuffed in a box for almost 300 years, waiting to be given a final resting place.
When Alexander VI died in August 1503, his coffin was taken inside the Vatican and placed in a magnificent tomb close to where Callixtus III lay interred in a monument that Alexander had built for him in gratitude for his uncle’s patronage that had allowed his entrée into the highest echelons of the Church. In […]
‘Aut Caesar, Aut Nihil’
‘Aut Caesar, Aut Nihil’ which means ‘Either Emperor or Nothing’ is the resonant, powerful motto we immediately associate with Italian Renaissance Prince Cesare Borgia. The phrase most likely coined by Julius Caesar himself, indicates sky high ambition for power and fame and the desire to succeed at all cost. Cesare was however not the only […]
‘The Passetto’ The secret corridor from the Vatican to the Castel’ Sant Angelo
When you walk on the Via della Conciliazione towards St. Peter’s square you cannot but notice an enormous long and crenelated wall on your right-hand side that looks like a battlement, very similar to the ones you find around old Italian cities. This wall stretches all the way from the Castel Sant’ Angelo (Hadrian’s Tomb) […]
