Love and Death in Renaissance Italy (review)

It is very rare to find a history book that you simply cannot put down, but the latest contribution to Italian social history from Thomas V. Cohen is just such a book. Set in and around Renaissance Rome, this work comprises a collection of six incredible microhistories of love (or more often lust), intrigue, betrayal, dirty old men, and death in the second half of the Cinquecento. These are true-life dramas, which uncannily mirror some of the fictional tales of Boccaccio and Firenzuola and confirm that life is indeed stranger than fiction.

Cohen has taken cases from Roman archives and meticulously reconstructed their historical background. In doing so he has delved into family politics and alliances in order to provide motives for his protagonists. He brings together his considerable experience with primary records and his wealth of knowledge of relevant secondary sources. The result is a spectacular and unique blendingof barebones cases and minute examination of the nuances and actions of the participants.

The first and perhaps most haunting story, "Double Murder at Cretone Castle," recounts the disastrous consequences of the adulterous love affair between Troiano Savelli and Vittoria, wife of Giovanni Battista Savelli. As Troiano is also the bastard half-brother of Giovanni Battista, the case eerily mirrors the sad but true tale of adulterous love leading to the murder of Paolo and Francesca, who were condemned to whirl always together yet apart by Dante in his Inferno. The consequent acceptance of the Savelli murders by Ludovico, Vittoria's brother, illustrates the strong family concept of honor, a code that has been severely breached by the lovers. In this case and in several others, the space itself becomes a protagonist; like Romeo, the agile young Troiano risks life and limb to reach his lover by clambering from his window to hers.

Running through the texts is a distinct theme of female agency that challenges the accepted concepts of women as either downright victims or as having direct power. In these cases, women use indirect methods of manipulation and control. Thus, the nun Lucretia keeps her options open as she flirts with the amorous beadle Alessio, and Francesca uses her brutal lover's clumsy attempts at love poetry against him in court. Otherwise tragic circumstances are modified by the behavior of the female protagonists, as when the sisters of Vittoria Giustini stand up to their brother's bullying in order to allow their sick sister to die in peace. Admittedly, as this case illustrates, female resistance is often overcome by male solidarity and by access to forms of power not accessible to women. Perhaps the most grim example of this is the case of Lucretia Gramar and her younger sisters, the daughters of a German lute maker. The young girls fall prey to the powerful judge Alessandro Pallantieri, who despite being elderly enjoys deflowering young girls. Overcoming the desperate resistance of their mother, he succeeds in molesting the girls, and in the process even draws the male members of the Gramar family into his web as accomplices in gaining access to his victims. Despite this, Lucretia is able to snatch at least one of her young sisters from the clutches of the predatory fiscatore. In this case justice is done, for although this resilient criminal goes on to commit other crimes, he finally meets his downfall.

Cohen introduces the reader to some nasty characters, but he also attempts to explain the actions of his protagonists in the context of their time. Thus, while on the one hand Pallantieri can be seen as a monster, he also provides for his victims and appears to genuinely love his offspring. While nothing can excuse Pallantieri's behavior, such rape cases are all too common in the documents, and men do not necessarily provide for the girls they deflower or for the families shamed by such action.

This book is a wonderful addition to the burgeoning world...