ItwastheageofDaVinciandMichelangelo,ofenlightenedcreativityandunparalleledintellectualachievement.ButitwasalsotheageofMachievelli,oframpantlawlessness,incessantwarandunspeakabledepravity.AttheheartoftheworldorderwastheVatican,thearbiterofconflictsbetweenkingdomsandempires.AndatthecenteroftheVaticanwasamanwhosequestforpowerwouldpropelhimtoseektheultimateprize,theholyseeofRome.Hewasamanwhosenamewouldbecomesynonymouswithruthlessness,andwhosereignaspopewouldberememberedasthemostinfamouschapterofthehistoryoftheCatholicchurch-RodrigoBorgia.Hisfourchildren-Juan,theoldest,aprideful,lazy,unscrupuloussexualpredator,Cesare,ayoungmantornbetweenafaiththatwasnothiscallingandhisdarkviolentnature,Lucretia,ayounggirldiscoveringthesecretpowerthatawomen’ssexualityholds.aaa
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