The Borgia series seems to be drifting further away from historic fact as it goes on. The “Paolo” episode, Season two episode two, is the first in the series that is almost purely fictional. The characters seem to be adrift from their historical moorings, too. It’s too bad, because the first season did a pretty good job of getting the essential characters right. Continue reading
The saga of the Borgias and the lives of Leonardo da Vinci and the young Machiavelli form the accurate historical background of this murder mystery, set in the opulence of Renaissance Rome and Milan. Machiavelli’s illegitimate daughter and his bewitching ex-mistress will solve three murders with help from da Vinci and Lucrezia Borgia–including the murder of Lucrezia’s real-life half sister.
You can visit the Borgia apartments in the Vatican. After a long restoration, they are dazzling. They are a little overdecorated for modern tastes, and so colorful they are almost hard on the eyes. Here, for example, are two ceilings:
Note the Brogia bulls on this one. The artist, Pinturrichio, liked to work in three dimensions. Some of the figures actually wear glass jewelry. Continue reading
No one knows for sure, but probably not. The Showtime series ought to show how the rumors got started, and why they aren’t credible. If it doesn’t, you can get the whole story in my 99 cent eBook, A Borgia Daughter Dies, available at Amazon and Smashwords.
Here’s a hint: if you are watching the series, the rumors were started by someone you love to hate.
Did Lucrezia Borgia really spend time in a Roman convent? She did indeed. Its cloister is pictured here. It is called San Sisto, or San Sisto Vecchio, and has been an active convent for close to 900 years.
The nuns do not speak English and do not welcome visitors. It was a feat, getting into this place.