Читать книгу The Shadow Of The Bell Tower - Stefano Vignaroli, Stefano Vignaroli - Страница 6

After publishing three thriller/police genre novels, I found it almost impossible to approach to the historical novel. But my passion for the history of my city has triggered the right spring in me to tackle this new work. It’s obvious that characters and facts, while taking inspiration from truly documented historical events, are largely pure fantasy. I have deliberately left the names of places and important Jesi families unchanged, just to make the narrative as plausible as possible. If I have succeeded in my intention, which is that of every writer, to interest the reader and keep him glued to the pages of the book until the last word, the public will judge it. I have done my best, and to the readers the task of judging.

The story takes place in Jesi during the Renaissance, rich in art and culture, where new and sumptuous palaces are rising on the ruins of the ancient Roman city.

The young Lucia Baldeschi is the granddaughter of an evil Cardinal, weaver of obscure plots aimed at centralizing both temporal and ecclesiastical power in his own hands. Lucia, a girl with a strong intelligence, becomes a friend of a printer, Bernardino, with whom she shared a passion for the revival of the arts, sciences and culture, which are characterizing the period throughout Italy. She will find herself caught between the duty to obey her uncle, who made her grow up and educate in the palace in the absence of her parents, the passionate love for Andrea Franciolini, son of the People’s Capitan and designated victim of the Cardinal’s tyranny.

The story is also told through the eyes of Lucia Balleani, a young scholar descendent of the noble family. In 2017, exactly 500 years after the events, she discovered ancient documents in the family palace, and reconstructed the complex history of which traces had been lost.