Pazzi - in Fiction

In Fiction

Works in Italian

Two members of the Pazzi family are placed in hell in Dante's Inferno, both in the circle of the traitors; The Divine Comedy's reference has nothing to do with the Pazzi Conspiracy, since it was written nearly 200 years earlier.

Vittorio Alfieri's drama La congiura de' Pazzi (first performance 1787, first published 1789) is a version of the story of the conspiracy as is Lorenzo Antonini's historical novel of 1877 with the same title.

The Pazzi also appear in the video game Assassin's Creed II as enemies of the Auditore family, and are later revealed to be Templars working with Rodrigo Borgia. They are later killed by Ezio Auditore.

Works in English

A Tabernacle for the Sun (2005), the first volume of Linda Proud's Botticelli Trilogy, tells the story of the Pazzi Conspiracy from the point of view of Tommaso de' Maffei, half-brother of one of the conspirators. After the sack of his native Volterra, Tommaso lives and works in the Palazzo de' Medici, hating Lorenzo but devoted to Giuliano. As his Roman relations begin to sound out his loyalties, Tommaso becomes embroiled in events which will tear him apart.

Thomas Harris's 1999 novel Hannibal features a character named Rinaldo Pazzi, a corrupt policeman descended from the Pazzi family. He is murdered and disemboweled by Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and then hung from the balcony of the Palazzo della Signoria, just as his famous ancestor was. In the 2001 film adaptation, he is played by Giancarlo Giannini.

A fictionalized version of the Pazzi conspiracy was the basis for the DC Comics Elseworlds story "Black Masterpiece" in Batman Annual #18, which features a Renaissance-era Batman and Leonardo da Vinci.

The Pazzi Conspiracy is the foundation for the book I, Mona Lisa, by Jeanne Kalogridis.

Primavera, a young adult novel by Mary Jane Beaufrand, tells the story of the Pazzi Conspiracy from the point of view of the youngest Pazzi daughter, Lorenza.

The 2009 video game Assassin's Creed II features a semi-fictional version of the Pazzi family and the Pazzi conspiracy, acting as early adversaries to the main character Ezio Auditore with an important role in the plot of the game. Unlike the historical account, only Francesco de' Pazzi was killed at the time of the coup's failure: Vieri had been killed during an invasion of San Gimignano by Auditore-aligned condottiero, and the rest (Jacopo de' Pazzi, de Bagnone, di Bandino Baroncelli, Maffei and Salviati) escaped Florence only to be hunted down and killed by Ezio over the next two years. After the death of Jacopo de' Pazzi, the fate of any remaining Pazzi relatives is left unmentioned, though five years later Rodrigo Borgia referred to the Pazzi as "destroyed." Also, for gameplay and technical reasons the assassination attempt was set outside the cathedral instead of inside.

Works in other languages

In 2007, the Spanish writer Susana Fortes wrote her sixth novel, Quattrocento, drawing on the recent discovery of the Duke of Urbino's involvement in the conspiracy.

The Czech writer Karel Schulz depicted members of the Pazzi family in his novel Kámen a bolest (The Stone and the Pain), which describes the Pazzi conspiracy.