BOOKS:Italian Dynasties

Villa Sforza

The Visconti...The Medici...The Sforza...The Este and The Colonna__the nobility__the great Italian families that enabled the Renaissance, these are the dynasties that historian Edward Burman examines in his 1989 book: "Italian Dynasties The Great Families of Italy From the Renaissance to the Present Day." From the 14th to 16th centuries these great dynasties dominated the cultural life of Italy providing the impetus and the patronage for the great art that fills Western museums today. But this dynastic period in Italy was also a time of vivid contrasts where beauty and violence often co-mingled. Men like Galeazzo Visconti, patron of the poet Petrarch was also the creator of the cruel forty-day program of torture devised for his political opponents. Another__ Caterina Sforza, known as the Amazon of Forli who fought battles like an Amazon and gave birth to her child after spending 24 hours in the saddle. However, the lines of these families still exist today in people like Count Giovanni Sforza, present head of "House of Sforza," the patrons of Leonardo Da Vinci. There houses and villas still exist and Burman also provides a guide to the places and artifacts associated with individual dynasties. The book is out of print, but still available used on Amazon.