Born of Venus
The literary phenomenon of 2024.
Florence, 1510. The great master Sandro Botticelli, on his deathbed, asks his confessor to deliver a secret letter and painting to the son of his muse, the beautiful Simonetta Vespucci.
This painting will never see the light of day, and more than five centuries later, Carla, a young Catalan restorer, will undertake the search for this lost work, which will lead her to discover its true essence and a secret hidden for more than five hundred years that It will change your life forever.
Scenarios
The Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral of Florence
One of the masterpieces of Gothic art and the first Italian Renaissance. A symbol of the wealth and power of the Tuscan capital in the 13th and 14th centuries, the magnificent dome by Brunelleschi and the bell tower by Giotto stand out above all. The complex formed by the church, the bell tower and the baptistery, forms one of the artistic and architectural jewels of Florence.
The Ponte Vecchio
It is a medieval bridge over the Arno River in Florence. It is a symbol of the city and one of the few inhabited bridges that remain. It crosses the Arno River at its narrowest point. The bridge is supported by three arches. Connecting the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti, Grand Duke Cosimo I de Medici commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build the famous Vasarian Corridor over the bridge, which was completed in 1565.
Medici-Riccardi Palace
It was commissioned in 1444 by Cosimo the Elder in Michelozzo who made an austere and sober building. The imposing cubic mole and the elegant façade with the gradual pillow to give slenderness and the pointed windows with arches, became the official prototype of Renaissance civil architecture and the symbol of the political power of the Medici. It was the residence of this family for one hundred years, until in 1659 it became the property of the Riccardi family.
The Palazzo Vecchio
It is located in Piazza della Signoria. Originally called the Signoria Palace, the name of the main body of the Florentine Republic, it changed its name: Priori Palace or Ducal Palace, according to the different governments of the city. Inside it houses a museum where works by Bronzino, Michelangelo, Giorgio Vasari and others are exhibited.
Uffizi Gallery-Florence
It is one of the best-known art galleries in the world. It contains a large collection of paintings and sculptures, from antiquity to the late Baroque period, especially the Italian Renaissance period. Among other artists, it contains works by Caravaggio, Giotto, Leonardo de Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Mantegna, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, Canaletto and Sandro Botticelli.
Villa Medici in Fiesole
It is one of the oldest villas belonging to the Medici, also called Belcanto, it is among the best preserved Medici villas; at the same time it is among the least known. It was purchased by Cosimo the Elder around 1450. His son Giovanni had it rebuilt in Renaissance style, according to Giorgio Vasari by the family architect Michelozzo.
The Pitti Palace
It is a gigantic Renaissance palace in Florence. It is located on the south bank of the Arno River, a very short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The appearance of the current palace dates back to 1458 and was originally the urban residence of Lucca Pitti, a Florentine banker who wanted to rival the Medici.
Church of San Salvatore in Ognissanti
It is a Franciscan temple located in Florence, founded in the mid-13th century by the lay order of the Humiliati. Frescoes by Ghirlandaio and Botticelli are preserved in the nave chapels. Ognissanti was the parish of the Vespucci. In the chapel that bears his name there is a fresco by Ghirlandaio of the Virgin of Mercy protecting the members of the Vespucci family, including the portrait of Simonetta Vespucci. In a small chapel in the transept on the right, a white marble disc marks the place where Botticelli was buried, at the foot of Simonetta’s tomb.
The Basilica of San Miniato al Monte
It is located in one of the highest places in the city of Florence and is one of the best examples of Romanesque in all of Tuscany. He was the city’s first martyr. He was probably a Greek merchant, or an Armenian prince on a pilgrimage to Rome. It began as a Benedictine monastery, and in 1373 it passed to the Cluniac order, which lives there to this day.
Cloister of Santa Maddalena in Cerchio-Milan
Of the imposing monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena in Cerchio today only the 15th century cloister located in the Casa Ucelli di Nemi remains. Considered one of the most evocative places in Milan, the ancient cloister of the monastery belonging to the Humiliati order remained standing for more than 400 years.
The Sistine Chapel
It is one of the most famous artistic treasures of Vatican City, built between 1471 and 1484, during the time of Pope Sixtus IV, where the name comes from, although it was initially called the Palatine Chapel. It is known for being the room where the conclave and other official ceremonies such as papal coronations are held, and for having been decorated by Michelangelo Buonarroti. Sandro Botticelli and Ghirlandaio among others participated in the fresco pictorial decoration.
Santa Maria Square in Trastevere
In the old Trastevere core of Rome, the square is dominated by the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, from which it takes its name, and houses a fountain considered the oldest in Rome. The Basilica, which was founded by Saint Callixtus in the 3rd century, was the first church officially open to worship. The bell tower, in Romanesque style from the 12th century, and the façade decorated with mosaics, were restored by Cavallini.
Viboldone Abbey-San Giuliano Milanese
The abbey was founded in 1176 and completed in 1348 by the Humiliati, an order of monks, nuns and laymen who worked in the abbey producing woolen cloth and cultivated the fields with innovative techniques. After the suppression of the Humiliati by Pope Pius V (1571), the abbey passed to the Olivetan Benedictines, who were forced to abandon it in 1773, when Lombardy fell into Austrian hands. The abbey is currently the headquarters of the Community of Benedictine nuns since 1941.
San Gimignano
It is a small walled town of medieval origin, built on top of a hill in Tuscany, northwest of Siena and southwest of Florence. It is famous for its medieval architecture and, especially, its towers, which can be seen from afar. The historic center has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990. It is also known for its white wines, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, made with the local Grenache variety.
