City of Flowers (44 page)

At a staging post on the road between Giglia and Bellezza, some very grand carriages were drawn up at an inn. The Duchessa of Bellezza, her father the Regent and his new wife, and their many bodyguards and servants were all being entertained by a flustered landlord. The young Duchessa was restless, casting many looks out of the window.

At last she heard the rattle of cartwheels.

‘I am in need of a breath of air,' she said. ‘I shall go and see how my cats are faring.' Taking only one guard, she stepped out into the night. She headed for the stables, where a weary Franco jumped down from the box and started to unharness the horses, who objected to the presence of the African cats in the stall next to them. Franco's young companion had been packed off back to Giglia at the last staging-post.

‘Good evening, your Grace,' he said, bowing. ‘You see that your statue follows you safely to Bellezza.'

‘I am anxious to see if it is all right,' said Arianna.

‘Certainly,' said Franco. He pulled back the canvas and pried open the crate with the crowbar, quite easily, for he had opened it a few times already on this journey and the lid was tacked only lightly into place.

The bodyguard's hand went to his sword when he saw a young man jump out, but the Duchessa laughed and Franco put out his hand to stop the guard drawing his weapon.

‘Let us give them some time alone, my friend,' he said, taking the guard by the arm and leading him out of the stable. ‘The Duchessa is in no danger from that one. He would give his life for her – and very nearly did.'

‘Luciano!' said Arianna. ‘I am so pleased to see you safe.'

He took her in his arms and kissed her. And, unlike the statue, she responded warmly.

‘Your hair is full of straw,' she said, when they pulled apart.

‘I am altogether unworthy of your elegant and beautiful Grace,' said Luciano, holding her at arm's length. ‘Do take off your mask so I can see your expression.'

‘My guard will run you through if he catches you looking at my face,' said Arianna, untying the mask.

‘I don't think so,' said Luciano. ‘I think it might be treason to kill a Duke.'

‘But you're not a Duke,' said Arianna.

‘I will be if you marry me,' said Luciano and kissed her again. He could see her expression clearly now. ‘Won't I? Duke Luciano of Bellezza, Consort of the beautiful Duchessa?'

‘Yes,' said Arianna. ‘You would be.'

‘Would?'

‘If you asked me.'

‘I'm asking.'

‘And if I accepted.'

‘Do you?'

‘I do,' said Arianna. ‘With all my heart.'

And she threw her mask away.

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A Note on the di Chimici and the Medici

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The history of the Medici is as tightly bound up with the city of Florence as that of the di Chimici is with Giglia. The Medici, or de' Medici to give them their proper Italian name, were a family which might have had an ancestor who was a doctor (‘medico'). The six red balls on their family crest
might
represent pharmaceutical pills – or that might all be part of the family legend. What is certain is that, like the di Chimici, the Medici owed their fortune to banking.

The first Medici banker was Giovanni (1360–1429), roughly equivalent to the di Chimici ancestor Ferdinando. The Medici family benefited when King Edward III of England failed to pay back a gigantic loan to two other Florentine banking families, the Bardi and the Peruzzi. They never recovered. Cosimo the Elder (1389–1464), who married a Bardi, commissioned Brunelleschi (who built the church of San Lorenzo in Florence and the dome for the city's huge cathedral) to design a palace for him on the Via Larga, or broad street.

The plans were considered too grand and Cosimo switched to Michelozzo Michelozzi, whose palazzo (Medici-Riccardi) can still be visited on the Via Cavour (the modem name of the Via Larga). I stayed one block up the road from it when starting to write
City of Flower
s. It houses the fabulous Benozzo Gozzoli fresco of the journey of the Magi in its chapel, which is supposed to include portraits of prominent Medici family members.

Piero de' Medici (1416–1469), roughly equivalent to Fabrizio di Chimici, first Duke of Giglia, was best known for being the father of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He ruled for only five years, but his son Lorenzo (1449–1492), equivalent to Alfonso di Chimici, Niccolò's father, was in power for twenty-three years.

Lorenzo de' Medici, ‘il magnifico', is the one that most people think of when they hear the name Medici. He was a great patron of the arts, a scholar, poet, philosopher and soldier, as well as a great womaniser, though a fond husband, a good friend and an implacable enemy.

I have bestowed the title of Duke much earlier in the di Chimici family, on Fabrizio (1425–1485). In fact it was Alessandro, the illegitimate son of Pope Clement VII, who first called himself Duke of Florence, in 1532. But the Medici then catch up, because Cosimo I, great-grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent, had himself made Grand Duke in 1569, ten years before Niccolò di Chimici had the same idea.

Several Medici were Popes, like Ferdinando di Chimici, Lenient VI, the first being Leo X (Giovanni de' Medici, 1475–1521), Lorenzo's oldest son. Leo was as fond of eating and drinking as Ferdinando di Chimici, once serving a twenty-five course meal for six hundred guests.

As for enemies, the Medici had far more than the di Chimici! The Albizzi family, the Pitti, the Pazzi, the Strozzi . . . Florentine history is littered with them. The Pazzi conspiracy of 1478 was supposed to kill both Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano. The younger brother was indeed stabbed to death, during Easter Mass in the cathedral, but Lorenzo was only wounded. All the Pazzi were killed, imprisoned or exiled as Lorenzo avenged his brother.

It wasn't the first assassination attempt on a de' Medici. The Pitti had engineered one on Piero in 1466, as a result of which they lost the grand palace being built for them on the far side of Arno, which bears their name to this day. Brunelleschi was their first architect, but building stopped for a hundred years. The restless Grand Duke Cosimo moved from the Medici palace on the Via Larga to the Palazzo Vecchio in 1539 and into the Pitti Palace nine years later, though that technically belonged to his wife Eleonora of Toledo. Grand Duke Niccolò made the equivalent moves in a few weeks.

Although his grandfather Alfonso is closest in dates to Lorenzo the Magnificent, Gaetano resembles the flower of the Medici family closely in being charming but ugly, courteous, learned and a lover of the arts, as well as a fine horseman and swordsman. (He will make a much more faithful husband, however.)

But there is no historical equivalent to Falco. He was invented by me, inspired by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's account of his solitary childhood wandering through the vast emptiness of his family's palaces, and by my two distant cousins, William and Henry, devoted brothers, one of whom badly damaged his leg (though, being a twenty-first-century young man, not with such disastrous consequences as Falco). All the rest of the di Chimici are complete inventions.

The dukes and princes of the di Chimici gave all their sons and daughters the honorary titles of Principe (prince) and Principessa (princess). They soon became princes and dukes in their own right anyway, as the di Chimici acquired power in more city-states of Talia (see Dramatis Personae).

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Dramatis Personae

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Stravaganti

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William Dethridge
, the Elizabethan who discovered the art of stravagation. Known in Talia as Guglielmo Crinamorte

Rodolfo Rossi
, Regent of Bellezza

Luciano Crinamorte
(formerly Lucien Mulholland), foster-son of William Dethridge and Leonora. First apprentice and then assistant to Rodolfo

Suliano Fabriano
(Brother Sulien), pharmacist-friar at Saint-Mary-among-the-Vines

Giuditta Miele
, sculptor in Giglia

Sky Meadows
(Celestino Pascoli, or Brother Tino), sixth-former at Barnsbury Comprehensive

Georgia O'Grady
, sixth-former at Barnsbury Comprehensive

Nicholas Duke
(formerly Falco di Chimici), Year 10 student at Barnsbury Comprehensive

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di Chimici

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Niccolò
, Duke of Giglia

Fabrizio
, Niccolò's eldest son

Carlo
, Niccolò's second son

Gaetano
, Niccolò's third son

Beatrice
, Niccolò's daughter

Ferdinando
(Pope Lenient VI), Prince of Remora

Rinaldo
, the Pope's chaplain and nephew, formerly Reman Ambassador to Bellezza

Alfonso
, Duke of Volana, Rinaldo's older brother

Caterina of Volana
, Rinaldo's younger sister, engaged to be married to Prince Fabrizio

Isabella
, dowager Duchess of Volana, their mother

Jacopo
, Prince of Fortezza

Princess Carolina
, his wife

Lucia
, their older daughter, engaged to be married to Prince Carlo

Bianca
, their younger daughter, engaged to be married to Duke Alfonso of Volana

Francesca of Bellona
, engaged to be married to Prince Gaetano

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Nucci

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Matteo Nucci
, a rich wool merchant

Graziella
, his wife

Camillo
, their eldest son

Filippo
, their second son

Davide
, their youngest son

Anna and Lidia
, their daughters

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Other characters in Talia

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Silvia Bellini
, a wealthy ‘widow' from Padavia (formerly Duchessa of Bellezza)

Guido Parola
, her servant and bodyguard

Susanna
, her maid

Arianna Rossi
, Duchessa of Bellezza, daughter of Silvia and Rodolfo

Barbara
, her maid

Paola Bellini
, Arianna's grandmother, a lace-maker on the island of Burlesca

Enrico Poggi
, chief spy of Duke Niccolò

Sandro
, an orphan, working for Enrico

Franco
, Giuditta Miele's senior apprentice

Brother Tullio
, cook-friar at Saint-Mary-among-the-Vines

Gabassi
, Duke Niccolò's architect

Aurelio Vivoide
, a Manoush, a harpist

Raffaella Vivoide
, a Manoush, his companion

Fratello
, a mongrel dog, adopted by Sandro

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Other characters in England

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Rosalind Meadows
, Sky's mother, an aromatherapist

Rainbow Warrior
(aka Colin Peck), Sky's father

Gus Robinson
, Rainbow Warrior's agent

Loretta
, Rainbow Warrior's fourth wife

Gloria Peck
, Rainbow Warrior's mother

Joyce Meadows
, Rosalind's mother

Remedy
, Sky's cat

Alice Greaves
, Georgia's best friend

Paul Greaves
, Alice's father

Jane Scott
, Alice's mother, ex-wife of Paul Greaves

Laura
, Rosalind's best friend, a House of Commons PA

Vicky Mulholland
, Nicholas's foster-mother, a violin teacher