Lucrezia Borgia

Winner of two coveted Italian literary awards when it was published in 1950, this book is masterfully translated to English and is one of the most well-written books I've read. Some of the passages are almost esquisite! The subject--Lucrezia Borgia, illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI--was obviously well-researched and the text based upon documents maintained in Italian archives, including at the Vatican. I learned a lot about Italian history of the period, social life, and the role/plight of women by reading this excellent book. I didn't want it to end and intend to read the other books written by this author.

lucretia was a kind ,loving and smart woman ,who was use by the men in her family for political reasons.the borgia men wanted dynasty more than lucretia happiness.her father alexander the pope sold her recieve power he need at that moment.her brother murder the love of her life.also murder their own brother.she was trap in a family control by addiction to getting power.

There are few portraits as sharply drawn as that depicting (or considered to depict) Lucretia Borgia: smart, beautiful, edgy and dangerous. The illegitimate daughter of Roderigo Borgia, who reigned as the most notorious Spaniard of the High Renaissance, Pope Alexander VI, she spent her most adult life (and great swathes of her childhood) being ferried from fiancé to fiancé, husband to husband and lover to lover as the Borgias sought to establish an Italian dynasty. Originally writtenin the 50s, this is the leading biography and is fairly sympathetic to both Lucretia (whom it paints as romantic, literate and cultured) and also Alexander (whose worst abuses are excused as acts of an oversolicitous father). There is no sympathy whatsoever for Cesare Borgia, who is ascribed responsibility not only for murdering Lucretia'slovers but also his (and her) own brother.