This thinking represented a revolutionary way of perceiving the world, prompted by the great rediscovery of human worth and a positive realigning of the role of humanity in God's universe. It was a truly essential element of the Renaissance.
I Seguicamme (The Followers)
This is an imaginary secret society, but Venetian history is littered with strange sects and secret communities. Giordano Bruno was involved in various splinter groups of the pan-European Rosicrucians in the Republic, and for centuries Venice was a nexus for magi and itinerant mystics and occultists.
The Venetian authorities were famously lenient towards those the Catholic Church considered heretics and it was a haven for those with radical views. Many alternative philosophies were allowed to flourish in Venice and Venetian publishers pushed the boundaries of what was allowed in a Europe dominated by Catholic dogma.
Mauro's Mappamundi
Father Mauro was a cartographer who lived and worked in a monastery on San Michele in Isola which is the cemetery of Venice. In The Medici Secret the details of his story have been elaborated, but the basis of this part of the novel is true. Between 1457 and 1459, Father Mauro did, with the help of his assistant Andrea Bianco, a sailor-cartographer, create as a commission from King Alfonso V of Portugal a very beautiful map of the world (or mappamundi). The map was completed in April 1459, just months before Mauro's death. It was sent to Portugal, but has not survived to the present day. A copy of the map is on display in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice.
Niccold Niccoli
The description of Niccolo Niccoli in The Medici Secret is quite close to what we know of the real man. He was forty-four in 1410 when the story is set, and he was a Florentine nobleman, who had, in his younger days, been an admired condotierre. He was tough, good in a fight and he understood military matters. He also had a thing about wearing an ancient red toga. But there was much more to Niccoli. He became famous in Italy as a man of high culture who did much to further the course of learning and discovery. He was a great traveller and owned the largest and best library in Florence. His greatest contribution came from his services to Classical literature, both as a copyist and collator of ancient manuscripts. These included works by such luminaries as Lucretius and Plautus. He is also famous as the inventor of italic script. I did, however, change a few details. Niccolo died in 1437, so in reality, he could not have corresponded with Contessina in the 1460s.
Palaeopathology
Palaeopathology is the study of ancient diseases, and the branch of this discipline known as Human Palaeopathology is becoming increasingly well recognised as an important tool in criminal investigation.
The most obvious evidence from a body is some sort of traumatic injury such as a smashed skull or severed limbs, but more subtle deformities may point to such afflictions as oesteoarthritis and gout. Using relatively simple chemical analysis certain diseases (including tuberculosis and syphilis) may also be discovered from surviving bones.
In order to learn more about how a subject lived and died, the palaeopathologist uses genetics. DNA can be obtained from dramatically decayed bodies and modern analytical techniques mean that amazing results can be achieved using very small samples. Also, as genetic science progresses, the palaeopathologist gains more sophisticated tools to study the bodies of those who died hundreds, even thousands of years ago.
There really is a Medici Project involving a team of palaeopathologists who are currently studying the bodies of the family buried in the Medici chapel in the centre of Florence. Indeed, the original inspiration for The Medici Secret came from an article on the BBC News website describing the work of this research team.
Venetian buildings
Many of the places mentioned in The Medici Secret, such as Harry's Bar, the Gritti Badoer and the Ospedale Civile are of course real and in the locations described. The historical details about them are also as accurate as I could make them. However, sometimes I've taken the liberty of changing the internal topography of some buildings, and in the case of La Pieta, the art contained therein. As far as I know, there was no real life Gabriel Fabacci, but there is a fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
The original La Pieta was built during the fifteenth century. And the present church was designed in 1755 by Giorgio Massari, but the facade was only completed in the last century. Vivaldi did in reality perform many of his most famous pieces of music in La Pieta and he was choirmaster there for many years. Further reading: The most wonderful book about Venice ever written (and indeed one of the best and most enjoyable books I have ever read) is John Julius Norwich's A History of Venice, Penguin, London, 1982.
Venice and the Plague
Like most ancient cities in Europe, Venice was ravaged by plague on many occasions. Indeed, the city may be considered as a nexus for many diseases because it lies at a crossroads between east and west and from its earliest days it acted as a trading hub.
The worst plague occurred in 1347-8. This horror became known as The Black Death, an epidemic that is believed to have wiped out more than one third of the population of Europe. This plague is referred to in passing by Doge Steno when he first meets Cosimo and his fellow travellers in Venice.
Plague doctors did exist, most of them were forced under threats of execution to stay in the city during times of plague and their costume was as I described it. The characteristic beak mask worn by the doctors in the belief that it protected them from infection has become a popular theme for modern-day masks.
People of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries did also attempt to ward off the plague with what we would consider irrational means, including firing cannons, ringing church bells, dousing themselves with perfumes and herbal solutions, and burning braziers filled with scented plants.
Vivaldi
Born in Venice in 1678, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi is today one of the most popular composers of the baroque era. He is also the most prolific of any classical composer, credited with over 450 works. The most famous of these is, of course, The Four Seasons. Written in Venice, it's a piece which describes in musical form the changing moods of the city through the year.
Although there is no evidence that he or any one close to him planted clues in the Gritti Badoer, Vivaldi was born close by. His family were of modest means and he did train for the priesthood, becoming known as The Red Priest because of his bright red hair. He did teach orphans at the Ospedale della Pieta, and many of his compositions were written for performances by the young amateur musicians he taught. The composer was sacked by the governors of the orphanage for some unknown impropriety, and he was reinstated within a year.
Vivaldi lived most of his life in Venice, but in his later years he travelled across Europe; and as described, he died soon after arriving in Vienna where he was due to take up a court appointment. But he did not stay with the Niccoli family and he did not write an elaborate God-fearing will such as that discovered by Jeff and Edie.
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