An imagined gathering
1490 · Forlì, Italy
Caterina Sforza receives Lorenzo, Machiavelli, and Cesare Borgia at Forlì and lets them see how a woman holds a state.
Caterina has ruled Forlì since her husband's murder and has made the fortress the center of a small but serious court. Lorenzo de' Medici has come to talk about an alliance; Machiavelli has come with the Florentine chancery's questions; Cesare Borgia, still a cardinal's son, has come out of curiosity about the woman whose name is spoken with respect and unease.
She shows them the walls and the stores, talks about gunpowder and grain, and makes clear that she will not be governed by any of them. Lorenzo is charmed, Machiavelli is impressed, and Cesare — who will one day besiege this same city — says little. The table is set with pasta, roast pigeon, artichokes, and spiced biscuits, and the countess keeps the conversation on her own terms.
Host: Caterina Sforza
Lorenzo de' Medici — In the Romagna to sound out an alliance with Forlì.
Niccolò Machiavelli — A Florentine clerk gathering intelligence on the Romagna.
Cesare Borgia — The pope's son, not yet the captain who will take this city.
First course
a period dish
a period dish
a period dish
Dessert
a period dish
Drink
a period dish
Caterina Sforza
The avenues open to noblewomen in Renaissance Italy, and the rulers who took them further than convention allowed.
Caterina Sforza
The campaigns that redrew the Romagna as popes, condottieri, and foreign armies fought over its cities.
Lorenzo de' Medici
The Italian practice of playing the great powers against one another so that no single state could dominate the peninsula.
Cesare Borgia
The mercenary captains who sold their armies to the Italian states and who, Machiavelli argued, could never be trusted.
This gathering is an editorial recreation grounded in the biographies of those present; it did not necessarily take place as described.