"The Montefeltro Conspiracy" - the Bad comes with the Good

When it comes to history books, Marcello Simonetta's The Montefeltro Conspiracy is something rare: a thoroughly detailed and entertaining narrative of the context, the settings, the key people and events all presented in a very brief and accessible package - a mere 215 pages (including many full-page pictures).

Normally, scholars writing about the Rennaissance can lose themselves to tangential distractions. These take the form of either excessively detailed explainations that can only be comprehended and put in context with difficulty, or speculative flights of fancy. Simonetta actually does engage in the latter for the last twenty-something pages; more on that below.

However, what makes The Montefeltro Conspiracy so unusual is the fact that it presents a complete, comprehensive picture of the events of the Pazzi conspiracy - including the historical context and aftermath - in such a short and accessible narrative. By turns it is fascinating, exciting, and the amateur historian may even feel a twinge of suspense here or there.

Along the way, the reader learns a great deal about the political and cultural landscape of 15th century Italy. One gains a great introductory understanding of the lives and perspectives of the great personalities involved in Rennaissance era politics and their games; the which include bribes, spies, conspiracies, insurrections, and assassinations. It should be noted that there is no shortage of great literature available examining the lives of these fascinating historical figures, which include Lorenzo il Magnifico, Federico da Montefeltro, Pope Sixtus IV, and others which are among the most popular names spoken in reference to the Rennaissance in general and Italy in particular.

Yet one would be hard pressed to find much information on one of the central characters in his narrative: the author's own ancestor, Cicco Simonetta. This fascinating and extremely influential individual has been given short shrift by popular historical works until now. Indeed, the greatest reason to read The Montefeltro Conspiracy, in my opinion, is to learn about this intriguing man.

That said, The Montefeltro Conspiracy is not without its flaws. Toward the end, Simonetta attempts to "discover" subversive hidden messages in some contemporary Botticelli paintings. This is apparently an attempt to lengthen the book past the 200 page mark while grasping at some of the scraps from the ignominious Dan Brown's table (the chapter is actually entitled "The Botticelli Code"; needless to say such intellectual whoring makes the gorge rise).

Smarty Pants Sez: The Montefeltro Conspiracy is a fun, informative, and easy read. Recommended.

Caveats: Simonetta's discovery, though valuable, does not warrant all the hype with which it is associated. Also, his tendency to throw the phrase "the [name-of-famous-Rennaissance-Italian-person]Code" around is quite annoying for those of us who would rather not have Dan Brown's foolishness associated with real history.