В«You bastard, what do you take me for? For one who goes to whores? I am faithful to my beloved, I swore allegiance to her that I was near death. She healed my wounds and I should reward her with a betrayal?В»
Gesualdo leaned back, holding himself firmly on his legs, and made the young man’s sword crash to the ground with thunder.
«Eh, love plays tricks on you! Yes, you’re very distracted today, you fight very badly, my friend. You’re lucky to have me in front of you and not an enemy, or you’d be dead already.»
Andrea raised his sword again and struck a new blow against The Mancino’s sword, which made it swirl, causing his opponent’s unbalance and fall to the ground. In an instant, the edge of the blade resting threateningly on the young man’s neck. The latter, with an agile leap backwards, got rid of the grip and with a kick made the sword fly away from the The Mancino’s hand. Then he regained possession of his own and went on the attack again. This time it was Gesualdo in a position of inferiority. The thugs who watched were not new to the skirmishes between the two and bet who on one who on the other. In short, the crowd became uncontrollable: the two continued to fight, railing against each other, sometimes even shouting, while the bystanders continued to bet higher and higher sums and incited the fight. Until, all of a sudden, everyone was silent. Andrea and Gesualdo realized that something was wrong and stopped fighting. They raised their heads and came face to face with Duke Berengario of Montacuto.
«Stop playing games, you two, and go make yourselves presentable. Tonight you’ll have the honour of dining at my table», he said in an authoritative voice. Then he turned around in his heels and disappeared down the corridor, in the direction he had come from.
Rarely, during those long years, had Andrea entered the wing of the castle where the Lord, the Duke of Montacuto, resided. They were much richer rooms, both in furniture and decorations, than the ones he was used to frequent, in the part of the Fortress where soldiers, armigers and servants stayed, and where he had hardly conquered a room with a straw mattress, thanks to Gesualdo’s intercession with the Duke’s lieutenant.
The times that Andrea found himself in the Duke’s presence were then counted on the fingers of his hands. It was good that the Duke was often far from the Castle, as he spent a lot of time in Ancona, both to keep the administrative affairs of the city under control, now that he had ousted the Council of Elders, and to follow closely the construction of the fortified citadel, a new bulwark to defend the port. The fact is that, since the Duke had saved him from the gallows with a precise purpose, that of sending him to the service of the Malatesta of Rimini, he had expected to have to leave that place of idleness much earlier. And instead, the Duke seemed to take pleasure in not receiving him, when for one reason, when for another, and to keep him among those barbarians, who had nothing to do with him, with his nobility, with his lineage, with his culture. He had not found even a book to read so that he could spend his time in a dignified manner, and his only hobby was to train himself to fight, which had really bored him. His only comfort was the friendship of Gesualdo who, despite his humble origins, he considered a faithful and wise companion in dispensing advice. The fact, now, of walking beside him, comforted him and instilled in his soul the courage he needed to face the eventual conversation with the old Duke of Montacuto.
В«Here we are at last. The time has certainly come to leave for the Montefeltro territories, to fight for real, to have brave men at my ordersВ», Andrea told his friend, walking down a long corridor, where the sounds of footsteps were muffled by carpets placed above the floor, and the noises and voices were not allowed to rumble, thanks to a series of tapestries that covered the walls. В«I will do as I am commanded, but on one point, on one point only, I will be intransigent with the Duke. You, Gesualdo, will have to accompany me. You will be my guide and my right arm. I want no one else beside me on the journey from here to Rimini.В»
«My young friend, you are strong and robust, while I am an old invalid. I don’t think our Lord will agree to your request. Even if he hasn’t summoned me for some time now and hasn’t entrusted me with any more missions after the one we both know, just knowing me away from here could be cause for concern for the Duke. Listen to me. Be quiet and make no foolish demands!»
«Shut up, you! You may be old and crippled, but you fight much better and you’re much smarter than a young warrior. And then...»
The words faded into his mouth, because they had reached the end of the corridor. The door wide open in front of them showed the dining room, where a long table was laid with all God’s blessings. Two reverent servants held open the heavy red velvet curtains that served as a frame at the doorway. As they passed by, the servants bowed deeply, then closed the curtains once the guests had crossed the threshold. Andrea and Gesualdo looked with wonder at the roasts of peacocks, pheasants and guinea fowl, roast potatoes and boiled vegetables. All the dishes were adorned with decorations, in a blaze of colours rare to see. Not to mention the smells, which reached Andrea’s nostrils to remind him of the perfumes that only in his father’s house he had appreciated at the time, and which he had almost completely forgotten. The wine in the pitchers was red, the typical dark colour of Mount Conero’s wine. Andrea felt a slight elbow, a prelude to the advice whispered by Mancino.
«Go easy on the wine. For someone like you, used to Verdicchio and Malvasìa, the Rosso Conero can be dangerous. It goes straight to the head!»
В«The good moment may not last long, so we must act now in support of our friend Sigismondo MalatestaВ», Berengario began to say to his guests as he bit into a chicken leg, holding it by the bone, while the grease from his hand slipped down his forearm. В«Now that Leon X is dead, Urbino and Montefeltro must be taken away from the Medici and the Holy See! Soon all the territories of the region of the Marche, including the Marca Anconitana, will have to be restored to the right balance. Subjected, yes, to the state of the Church, but still with independent civil governments. Unfortunately, Duke Francesco Maria Della Rovere seems to have retired himself in Senigallia, renouncing to regain the Duchy of Urbino, taken from him by Cesare Borgia and then passed to the nephew of Pope Leo X. Moreover, the territories of Jesi are in total abandonment. After the death of Cardinal Baldeschi, a papal legate was sent, who seems not so much to govern the city as to finish reducing it to exhaustion, to misery, taking advantage of the vacation of a civil government.В»
At these last words, Andrea’s heart leapt. The civil government of the city of Jesi was his by right. If the Duke of Montacuto wanted to restore the political balance, it would have been enough to send him back to his city, and he would have taken care of it and put this notorious papal legate back in the ranks. What was the point of sending him to fight for the Lord of Rimini? But perhaps the Montacuto’s intentions were quite different. Perhaps it would have served him well to maintain the situation of disorder in neighbouring Jesi, now that he had taken out the Council of Elders and had taken over the government of the City and the Marca Anconitana. Perhaps, at the last moment, he would have turned his back on everyone and sold Ancona to the Pope for a few tens of thousands of gold florins. Or perhaps he would have allied himself secretly with the Duke Della Rovere and would have made a common front with him, against the Pope and Malatesta himself, so that the latter would not have extended his expansionist aims towards the South. Who knows! Andrea would not have been sorry to return to Jesi and be able to see his beloved again. But if he hadn’t even been informed of the death of his sworn enemy, Cardinal Baldeschi, let alone if it had passed through the Duke’s mind to have him return home. So Andrea decided to remain silent and continue listening to Duke Berengario’s reasoning, distractedly bringing some potatoes to his mouth and savouring their delicate goodness. Only a few years before, the existence of this delicious tuber, which had recently been imported from the New World, was not even known. A servant poured red wine into his bowl and he gobbled it to accompany the potatoes on their way to his stomach.
«The recently appointed Pope, Adriano VI, is a puppet, a puppet in the hands of the ecclesiastical oligarchy, who made it possible to wipe out the House of Medici, who were taking too much power, even in Rome. I don’t think it will last long, before Giulio de’ Medici devises something to take him out and take back the reins of the Ecclesiastical State. So we must seize the moment before it’s too late. Early tomorrow morning, Andrea, you will leave for Pesaro, where you will take command of a garrison of Sigismondo Malatesta’s army. You will lead this garrison towards Urbino, while the Malatesta will reach the same city from the North with the rest of his army, through the Montefeltro territories. You will grip Urbino in a vice, from the north and the south, and both the Medici occupying Montefeltro and Count Boschetti, who governs Urbino on behalf of the Holy See, will have no escape. You, Gesualdo, will accompany Andrea as far as Pesaro. The road is long and risky, and you know the best ways to go. You will make sure that Andrea arrives at his destination as soon as possible. Then you’ll come straight back. Whether he knows that for some reason, valid or not, you followed Andrea into battle. In four days I want you back here in the castle, or else...», and two fingers crawled through the skin of his neck, simulating what a knife blade pressed against his jugular would do.
Even trying with himself not to admit it, Andrea had noticed a light of betrayal shining in the Duke’s eyes as he spoke. He had never trusted him, and now even less so. When he and Gesualdo were dismissed and, on their way out, they met two ugly thugs, who had never seen each other at court before, Andrea’s fears were even more pronounced. Fortunately, The Mancino, in whom he had blind faith, in the hours and days to come, would be at his side to defend him at the cost of his own life.
В«Who do you think those two are, Gesualdo? Assassins, perhaps? Cutthroat?В»
«I don’t know. It’s the first time I’ve seen them. But their faces don’t inspire anything good. But let’s not talk about that here. Come on, let’s go pick out the horses for the morning. We can talk quietly in the stables.»
When Matthew and Amilcare were inside the hall, the Duke had the door bolted, then clapped his hands. Immediately some handmaids, dressed in colourful clothes, with transparencies that highlighted all their feminine graces, reached the hall through a back door and began to dance to a melody played by invisible musicians, hidden who knows where. Berengario was over sixty and, in his life, he had had three wives, all disappeared at a young age and in mysterious circumstances. Someone, at court, whispered that he himself had had them killed, once they had bored him. He had always been a lustful, as well as a lover of the delights of the table, so much so that he had doubts as to which circle of hell he would end up in after his death. But little mattered. The important thing was to enjoy the pleasures that life offered him while he could. And from that point of view, in private, he didn’t want to miss anything. He reached out to one of the handmaids, the one wearing a bright red tunic, and ripped it off her, leaving her completely naked. The girl already knew what she had to do, and she was well aware that, if she did not perform her task properly, the next day her lifeless body would be found in the middle of the woods by some hunter. She approached the Duke and pulled down his stockings. Then she took the member in her hands until it was swollen, lowered her prosperous breasts down her lord’s belly, trying to excite him more and more. Only when she felt the man about to explode, she turned over and allowed herself to be sodomized. In the end, the Duke drove out a satisfied cry of pleasure and, as a reward, slipped a gold coin into the dimple between the young woman’s breasts, who was able to hold it without letting it fall to the ground.
«Come on, my dear guests! There’s food and women for everyone in here. Bring it on. It’s on me, and I’m generous today. And at the end, we’ll talk business, too.»
The stables of the castle of Massignano could hold more than a hundred horses, but there were about thirty at the moment. Leaving aside the quieter and more docile mares, The Mancino drove Andrea to the area where a few brick compartments had been built, where the fiercest steeds were locked up to prevent them from getting nervous just by seeing each other.
В«Stallions are harder to assemble, but they give much more satisfaction. They are much quicker and can shoot at the enemy, not giving a damn about the arrows hissing near their ears. And even if you weigh them down with trappings, their performance is very little reduced. Here it isВ», said Gesuald, opening the door of a shelter, where a black horse whined nervously at the sight of the newcomers. В«Ruffo is my favorite. He is a Murgese, a horse from Puglia, where horses were once bred for the Emperor Frederick II of Swabia and his family.В»
Andrea appreciated the beautiful shapes of the steed, then lowered his eyes to study its legs and hooves.
«You can see that it’s not a horse bred in green and humid plains, but on the arid and stony hills of the Murgia. We love to remember Frederick II in Jesi, because it is the city where he was born, and I had the opportunity to have in my hands his treatise “De arte venandi cum avibus”, where he describes how these were horses suitable for falconry, because, unlike others, the Murgese is not afraid of hawks or eagles flying around him, especially when they swoop down to return to the gloved arm of the master...»
Their speeches were interrupted by hearing voices indicating the presence of other people. The Mancino signalled to Andrea to be silent and to remain hidden, cowering near Ruffo and approaching the wooden door of the shelter without closing it completely. The two thugs just crossed paths in the rooms upstairs had perhaps had the same idea, that of coming to choose the horses for the next day. Convinced that there was no one in the stables, they spoke quite loudly, so that it was easy to hear them talking. A lump went up to Andrea’s throat when the guys stopped right in front of the half-closed door of Ruffo’s shelter. The idea of being discovered in there and having to face them weren’t much liking to him, also because both he and Gesualdo were unarmed.
Luckily, the two of them moved on.
«It’s better not to risk riding stallions we don’t know about», said the older, uglier one, a guy with a pockmarked face framed by a shaved beard. «Let’s get two young geldings, instead. We have the advantage of the night anyway. We’ll reach the Montignano Tower at our leisure and have plenty of time to prepare for the ambush. It will be a quick and easy job and the Duke will reward us well.»
The other one accompanied the last words said by his friend with a loud and fat laugh. Under the incredulous eyes of Andrea and Gesualdo, who continued to remain well hidden, threw their miserable saddlebags on the first two horses that came into their sights, jumped on the animals’ backs and disappeared in the darkness of the night, leaving behind them the wake of their loud laughter and their pestilential smell.
CHAPTER 5
Culture is what most people get,
many transmit and few have.
(Karl Kraus)
That morning, too, Lucia woke up, with the first rays of the sun filtering through the shutter, in Andrea’s comforting arms. Her naked body, saturated of love, of the love given and received during the night, was protected by the strong and muscular arms of her beloved, which enclosed him like a shell. She had known Andrea for such a short time and yet she was so in love with him that she could no longer conceive her life without him. If at that moment she had woken up on a bed alone, she would already have found herself with a lit cigarette between her fingers, even before she got up. But now she didn’t, now Andrea was there to satisfy her, and nothing else was needed. She had discovered in him a man who was passionate about culture, history, ancient and modern literature, and this made that young man the ideal companion for her, with whom to share interests and passions, beyond the home and the bed. She had asked him more than once what kind of work he did and he had always answered evasively: the anthropologist, the archaeologist, the geologist. In short, she had not yet understood exactly what his source of financial support was. In order to be a researcher, as he defined himself, he had to have support, to be a scholarship holder in some university at least, Italian or foreign. Or have funding from some important private organization interested in his studies. You knew very well how difficult it was to carry out research with the limited funds made available by the government and the Ministry of University and Research. It seemed as if Andrea had enough money to do whatever was on his mind. But perhaps he was supported by the wealth of his family of origin. Who knows, maybe the Franciolini family, over time, had managed to administer their assets in a more effective and productive way than the Baldeschi-Balleani. But what did it matter? Now she still enjoyed the warmth of skin-to-skin contact, contrasted by the coolness of the sheets that partly covered their bodies. Outside soon the sun would hit hard, but the thick walls of the ancient Palazzo Franciolini kept the environment cool even in the middle of summer, without the need to install any air conditioning splits.
She had tried to limit her movements as much as possible, but at a certain point Andrea had perceived her awakening, had just opened her eyelids slit open, had brought his lips closer to her face, had printed a kiss on one cheek and had untied her from the embrace with delicacy. At that point Lucia, though reluctantly, decided to get up. She reached the bathroom and let the lukewarm water from the shower run over her body for a long time, then, still in her bathrobe and with her hair wet, she gained the kitchen and prepared coffee for her and Andrea. She sat down at the table, with the steaming cup in front of her, greedily resuming the reading of the text she had left up there the previous evening. Attracted by the strong smell of the drink, Andrea soon appeared and pulled down his coffee from the pot and sat down in front of her, activating the tablet to read the morning news on the ANSA website.
«I don't understand why you don’t turn on the television instead of ruining your view on that small screen. There’s news on certain channels all the time and...»
«It’s not the same», Andrea interrupted her. «Some particular news on TV doesn’t pass it on. I’m following closely the events of the archaeological sites destroyed by the Jihadists, the Islamic extremists. The official news are making us believe that the situation is much more serious than it is in reality. But in any case, for me, the loss of finds thousands of years old remains a fact of extreme gravity. When some of these areas are freed, I think I might be ready to leave immediately to assess the damage and bring help to the historical reconstruction of the ancient cities. We saw last year with Nineveh that much of what the ISIS militants had shown as destroyed could be salvaged.»
В«And would you leave me here alone for millennia-old ruins?В» she turned to him, grabbing his hand and holding it in hers.
«If you wouldn’t follow me, yes. Work is work, and I find mine very exciting. Of course, not that I’d stop loving you, but I wouldn’t give up my commitments anyway.»
Pretending to be a little offended, Lucia took her hands out, looked for the pack of cigarettes and lit one.
«Without perhaps disdaining some exotic love affair, eh? Never trust men. They’re traitors by nature.»
Lucia drew long from the cigarette and puffed the smoke at him, who took it out of his hands and pulled it back.
В«Oh, not me. I'm a faithful man!В»
«That statement is all to be considered. You’re 30 years old and you make love like a “matter expert”. I know nothing about your previous life. Who knows how many women you had before me!»
As if not to get involved in a speech he didn’t want to face for any reason in the world, Andrea changed the subject.
«But let's come to your work, rather. What did you find so interesting in the humble library of this dwelling, that you’re up until two in the morning and find yourself here at seven in the morning already reading again?»
Waiting for an answer, Andrea crushed the cigarette half consumed in the ashtray. Lucia, unsatisfied with the dose of nicotine she had taken, pulled the electronic cigarette out of the case and pressed the ignition button. The steam puffed out by the young woman vanished into the kitchen air.
«These documents refer to the history of this city in the first decades of the 16th century, and are interesting, because they describe the events that followed the death of Cardinal Baldeschi, in a different way from how I knew them and how they are described in the official texts of the history of Jesi. It is very strange how the copy of “The History of Jesi” preserved in this building, which should be twin to the other two found in the Baldeschi-Balleani Palace and the Petrucciana Library, does not have the pages torn out, but is intact. But what is more interesting is that some details are reported in a different way compared to the other texts that I had the chance to have in my hands.»
В«For example?В» asked Andrea, intrigued.
В«For example, I was convinced that a high prelate of the Ghislieri family had succeeded the Cardinal my ancestor to the office of Bishop. Instead it seems that things had gone quite differently and Ghislieri came to hold this office only after a certain period of time. I thought that my ancestor Lucia Baldeschi would never have taken the position of Captain of the People and instead it is reported here that in 1522, for a certain period of time, the government of the city was carried out, even if in collaboration with the noble caste of Jesi, by a woman, who had even averted a popular rebellion, appeasing inflamed souls with her feminine sensibility. Very strange for those times!В»
«I believe that certain news must be assessed for its truthfulness. It’s not uncommon for documents from ancient times to contain sensational historical forgeries. And then often those who wrote these chronicles tended to mix realities and legends in a very easy way. Come on, let’s get dressed and go out for a walk through the old town, before the air out there gets too hot. Sometimes stones reveal much more than books, if one can interpret them. Let an archaeologist guide you, and you won’t regret it!»
Convinced that Andrea knew many more things than he had revealed to her in a few months, she ran to the bathroom, gave her hair a blow-dryer to finish drying it, put on makeup, put on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans and went back to the kitchen ready to go out. She felt Andrea’s smug look on her, realizing that, not having bothered to wear a bra at all, the shape of her nipples was distinctly printed on the t-shirt. But who cares. If even Andrea had been jealous of her graces, better this way: jealous man, man in love!
As they went up, hand in hand, the steps of Baldassini’s Coast, enjoying the still fresh air of the early morning hours, Lucia let the stones of the ancient buildings whisper centuries-old stories, brooding in her head what she had read the night before.
MISERY
The raids of the invading armies were not over and between 1520 and 1521 Giovanni De’ Medici’s men first and then Leo X’s men stayed in our area. The latter were Swiss hired by the Pope, who had stayed for twenty-six days, causing endless damage to the city and the countryside.
In addition to the damage and the harassment, the plague had returned as a nightmare to terrorize the population. At a General Council meeting on December 6, 1522, when a threatened passage of 2,500 militant Spaniards in the pay of the Pope had to be dealt with, it was decided to make the possible to drive them away, even with some gift, and if they wanted to come in any way, to receive them outside the city, it being known that they were carrying the contagion with them. All of Italy, after all, in those years was reduced to the most miserable conditions. To the ruins and carnage caused by the battles and raids of foreign armies, were added the floods and the plague, which continued everywhere to make its victims.
Despite the preventive work of the citizens, the terrible disease, according to some, in particular according to the historian Anthony Gianandrea, arrived in Jesi by way of Ancona, in certain bales of ropes. It was also said that this plague came by God’s just judgment, because the year before some young people, finding a dead body of a stranger in Caldora’s house, all in one piece, as a joke, brought it in the days of Carnival in disguise for the city and, not having been punished for it, but rather by all the people helped, in a dream appeared to them the image of a black man who warned them that shortly afterwards they would die of the plague. It is a fact that the plague threw the population into the blackest misery.
Already the year before a multitude of locusts had almost eaten all the fodder, bringing a great hunger and many other miseries, which was the universal opinion that, if the Magistrate had not helped many with public money and ordered that those who killed a certain amount of locusts be rewarded, the following year a good part of the population would have starved to death. Such was the misery that the poorest people, not having enough to feed themselves, were forced to eat grasses, such as beasts, and some quantity of semolina.
In the meantime the two young people, almost breathless, had reached the top of the climb, they had walked a short stretch of Via Roccabella and had come to Piazza Colocci, illuminated by the sun on a beautiful July day, stopping to admire the facade of the Government Palace, better known as Palazzo della Signoria.
«I don’t understand why people insist on calling it Palazzo della Signoria, when in Jesi a real Signoria has never existed», Lucia began by addressing her erudite companion, hoping for his usual competent intervention.
«And indeed Jesi was a Republic, as we can see in various writings on the icons on the walls of this palace. A republic, however, subject to the highest papal power, which extended its protective wings so far: “Res Publica Aesina, Libertas ecclesiastica - Alexander VI pontifex maximus”. This was to remind everyone that Pope Alexander VI himself, in the year 1500, inaugurated and blessed this palace, the work of the architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini, granting the city of Jesi to continue to be an independent republic and to continue to be able to adorn the symbol of the city, the rampant lion, with the royal crown, provided that it was in any case respectful of the power of the Church, and at the same time accepted the important presence of a papal legate.»
«Interesting. So it is clear that the name Palazzo della Signoria is linked to the architect who built it, and who is among those who designed the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.» At that moment, Lucia set her gaze on the marble icon, depicting the rampant lion in relief, surmounted by a bronze crown post. Underneath the icon, an inscription in a Latin that was not very comprehensible. «It seems that this crown, above the lion, has very little to do with the rest of the work. Why didn’t the sculptor who made the work also sculpt the crown above the lion’s head? And this inscription? A very rough Latin, I’d say. The dates aren’t written correctly either!»
MCCCCLXXXXVIII
AESIS REX DEDIT FED IMP
CORONAVIT RES P. ALEX
VI PONT INSTAURAVIT
«Sure», replied Andrea. «I’'s a rather “macaronic” Latin, but what do we want to do with it, here we are between the end of the 1400s and the beginning of the 1500s. Maybe the Latin grammar had fallen into oblivion. But the meaning of the sentence is that in 1498, with the blessing of Pope Alexander VI - Rodrigo Borgia - in the facade of the Palazzo della Signoria of Jesi the crown was added to the rampant lion, in honour of the birth given by the city to Emperor Frederick II. But if you raise your eyes you also see that the Pope had another icon added, the one depicting the crossed keys, symbol of the Vatican, and the phrase “LIBERTAS ECCLESIASTICA – MCCCCCCC”, to reinforce the concept we were talking about just now.»
«Trying to translate it literally, the meaning of the sentence seems a bit different», continued Lucia. «Taking the lion as the implied subject of the sentence, one could translate: King Esius gave it, Frederick the emperor crowned it, as a symbol of the “Res publica”, Alexander VI Pontiff established it. That is, King Esio, the mythical founder of the city of Jesi, indicated the lion as its symbol; later, Emperor Frederick II, who was born here in Jesi, had it crowned proclaiming the city “royal”, i.e. faithful to the Empire; finally, Pope Alexander VI had the symbol installed on the facade of the palace, to seal the fact that Jesi remained an independent republic, although subject to ecclesiastical authority.»
Doubtful, Andrea remained silent for a few moments, then resumed, not without a hint of scepticism.
В«I would have to consult some texts to answer you properly. In any case, you are certainly right about one thing: the bronze crown was added in a postponed manner at a time after the execution of the sculpture itself.В»
CHAPTER 6
Everything took light from her: she was the smile that illuminated everything around her
(Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina)
The afternoon lights cast sinister shadows on the faces of the angry crowd. Lucia was quick to run up the Pastori’s coast, walk diagonally along the dark road that ran under the walls of the Rocca and emerge in the Government’s Square, even before the first of the troublemakers arrived in that place going up the Longobardi’s Coast. He climbed the three steps that led to the churchyard of St. Augustine Church, thus remaining in a higher position than the square. In front of it, on the opposite side of the square, stood the Government Palace, recently completed and finished also inside thanks to the work of illustrious architects, such as Giovanni di Gabriele da Como, Andrea Contucci, known as Sansovino, and other distinguished sculptors and woodcarvers. Only the wooden blacksmith had yet to complete his work: he had been assigned the delicate task of carving and working on the ceilings of the Sala Grande, the Chancellery, the Camera del Podestà and other rooms.
When the first people armed with rudimentary tools, such as pitchforks, axes, shovels, but also knives and spears, founded who knows where, began to arrive noisily in the Government’s Square, Lucia tried to stand up in all its height, to be noticed by all, dominating the crowd. She was excited, her heart was in her throat, she didn’t know if the words that would come out of her mouth could be the right ones. But she had to try everything. Someone began to recognize her, pointing her out to others, to those who were invading the square.
«It’s the noble Lucia Baldeschi! The betrothed of the late Captain of the People!»
«Yes, if we’d had had Andrea dei Franciolini at the head of the town and the countryside, we certainly wouldn’t be like this!»
Lucia was afraid that someone might say at that point that she agreed with her evil uncle to kill Andrea, and that if the latter hadn’t been executed, it had been by pure chance, and certainly not by her intercession. She didn’t even realize that everything around her was forming like a luminous aura, so intense that people were almost afraid of it. As the sun went down, the Square was illuminated by the light that she herself emanated from there, from the churchyard. When she raised her arms and everyone was silent, Lucia could not escape the whispered phrases of those closest to her.
«She is a Saint. She is the Virgin Mary made person!», they said, kneeling down and dropping their weapons to the ground. All this instilled more courage in her, who knew she had powers beyond the norm, which at times were beyond her control, as in this case. But she could not waste time chasing after her thoughts, the fact that if her grandmother had had time to finish instructing her, she would now be able to control these abilities to perfection. She had to talk to the person in front of her. So she let her words be inspired by her grandmother’s spirit, which perhaps still hovered indomitably around her.
В«Gentlemen, rising up against the authorities makes no sense at all. There inside that Palace, the nobles and elders of Jesi, what we call the Council of the Best, are just waiting for a strong leadership. And now is the time. Yes, because Pope Adriano VI has decided to recall the papal legate, believing that Cardinal Cesarini is more useful in Rome than here in Jesi, where he is hardly ever present. And that is good for us!В»
The news, still unknown to most of those present, even because it was only partly true, had its effect and the buzz began to rise in the crowd, forcing Lucia to raise her voice, almost to the point of feeling pain in her throat.
«As I was saying, this is good for us. We have every right to expel the Cardinal’s exiled vicars. And we will do so without bloodshed. I already know I have the support of the Pope, to whom I have sent missives on the matter, through messengers who are already on their way to Rome. Father Ignazio Amici, the Dominican Inquisitor, is already packing his bags, but rest assured that he won’t be the only one to leave the city in the coming days. And we’ll have a Bishop from Jesi again, Cardinal Ghislieri. Go on, then, lay down your weapons, go home and sleep soundly. Also because - and this is a solemn promise on my part - tomorrow morning I will go through that door, yes, the door of the Government’s Palace. I will present myself to the Council of the Best and claim the office that is rightfully mine, for having been promised in marriage to Andrea Franciolini: I will be YOUR CAPTAIN OF THE PEOPLE!»
The enthusiasm exploded among the bystanders, those who were on their knees rose up, everyone abandoned tools and weapons in their hands, someone headed towards the young noblewoman to lift her and carry her in triumph along Via delle Botteghe to Piazza del Mercato. Lucia, lifted up by the arms of some energetic men, smiled, and her smile illuminated everything and everyone. At a certain point even the bells of the various churches began to ring festively. When the procession arrived in front of Palazzo Baldeschi, Lucia asked to be put to the ground, because she was very tired and wanted to return to her home to rest.
В«Go now, and come back tomorrow to celebrate the new Captain of the People and the new Bishop of Jesi.В»
As the crowd dispersed and Lucia was about to cross the threshold of her family palace, many did not escape the movements there, at the entrance of Palazzo Ripanti. Cardinal Cesarini’s vicar was hurriedly loading his luggage onto a horse-drawn cart.
The bastard has understood and is already leaving!, she said to herself. It’s better that way. I’m not so sure I can control everyone who claims his head.
The emotions of that day had been so great that Lucia sank into a deep sleep, without having even had dinner. She would have liked to take a hot bath before going to bed, but at the palace she no longer had a maid to take care of her. Moreover, since she had preferred to adopt the country residence for the girls, she had moved most of the servants there, and in the austere Baldeschi palace there remained very few servants, mostly male, who took care of the kitchens and stables.
She was awakened by an insistent knock on the door of her room, when the sun had not yet risen. She struggled to get out of bed, got herself settled as best she could, and opened the door by a crack, to see who was disturbing her at that unusual hour. A young boy, still beardless, but dressed in full dress, stockings, and with a long feathered hat on his head, did a reverence and tried to apologize for the time, almost stammering.
В«Excuse me so much, Madame, but what I must tell you is of the utmost urgency. The executioner sent me from Piazza della Morte.В»
Lucia’s throat went up and her mind, as sleepy as it was, suddenly became clear again, remembering that this was the time decided for Mira’s execution. What was going on? Why had the executioner sent this young man to trouble her?
