A suggestion from Peter Panton, owner of Panton’s English Bookshop, a favourite haunt of international book lovers in Milan.

The Deadly Sisterhood: The Women Who Ruled Italy During the Renaissance by Frieda Leonie

The book is one of drama on a grand scale, a Renaissance epic, as Christendom emerged from the shadows of the calamitous 14th century. The sweeping tale involves inspired and corrupt monarchs, the finest thinkers, the most brilliant artists, and the greatest beauties in Christendom. Here are the stories of its most remarkable women, who are all joined by birth, marriage and friendship and who ruled for a time in place of their men-folk: Lucrezia Turnabuoni (Queen Mother of Florence, the power behind the Medici throne), Clarice Orsini (Roman princess, feudal wife), Beatrice d’Este (Golden Girl of the Renaissance), Caterina Sforza (Lioness of the Romagna), Isabella d’Este (the Acquisitive Marchesa), Giulia Farnese (‘la bella’, the family asset), Isabella d’Aragona (the Weeping Duchess) and Lucrezia Borgia (the Virtuous Fury). Leonie Frieda recounts the role each woman played in the hundredyear drama that is THE DEADLY SISTERHOOD.

Now available at Panton’s English Bookshop.
www.panton.it
Via L. Ariosto corner of via L. Mascheroni
T: 02 4694468 or 02 45497568.
M1 Conciliazione.