Melisende's Library

Synopsis: The legendary figure of notorious seventeenth-century Italian poisoner Giulia Tofana, thought to be the first female serial kille...

Synopsis: Once upon a time a young couple met and fell in love. You probably know that story, and how it ended ( badly). Only here’s the Tha...

Synopsis: The Renaissance in Florence conjures images of beautiful frescoes and elegant buildings--the dazzling handiwork of the city'...

Synopsis: Myths and rumour have shrouded the Borgia family for centuries - tales of incest, intrigue and murder have been told of them since...

From  The Guardian :  The Renaissance in Italy was an era of terror and oppression more than beauty – but is its great art complicit in inju...

The Latin Church in Norman Italy by G. A. Loud First published in 2007, this was the first significant study of the incorporation of th...

Renaissance Mass Murder explores the devastating impact of war on the men and women of the Renaissance. In contrast to the picture of bala...

1360, Lombardy, Italy . The tyrant Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan ruthlessly employs treachery and murder to maintain his power in ...

Florence, 1497. An assassin threatens the life of the city's political leader. Out of desperation - and hope - the Duke of Lorra...

The Borgia family have become a byword for evil. Corruption, incest, ruthless megalomania, avarice and vicious cruelty―all have been associ...

From  Oxford University Press : In the twilight of the Renaissance, the grand duke of Tuscany--a scion of the fabled Medici family of ba...

From   WSHU : Leonardo exemplified creativity at its most passionate and multidisciplinary, and always with a sense of wonder. He is, sa...

“Now, surrounded by so many books, we lead indulgent and shameful lives. So what is the use of learning?” This is the heartfelt cr...

Author Lisa Kaborycha talks about her book " A Corresponding Renaissance: Letters Written by Italian Women, 1375-1650"  at Oxford...

The figure of Aldus Manutius , the “Michelangelo of the Book,” is inseparable from the city where he produced his most important innovation...

Well, it is autumn in the land down under, and the order for August has been submitted - albeit rather late in the season.  So here is the ...

I have just finished reading Matt Rees ' "A Name In Blood" - a historical novel on the life of Caravaggio - I would hesitate ...

Master of Verona Being already familiar with the story of Cangrande della Scala, I was keen to read this version of his life.  So far, ...