Hahahahaha, but we are contractually obligated to give cahn all the juicy parts!
This was one of those things, like kickboxer kicks, war chariots, and frogs, that I found myself going, "...Did this really happen?" So I must add the following two caveats. Acton asked himself the same "Did this really happen?" question, and concluded:
Unspeakably revolting scenes were said to have followed and though we may not give credit to them all, as the saying goes: there is no smoke without fire.
While I believe that there is certainly smoke without fire, especially where celebrities are concerned, in a well-documented century like the 18th, I'm more willing to credit it. Especially the rowdiness on the public streets with many witnesses.
So Tuscan shenanigans were definitely happening.
As for Giuliano Dami, Italian wiki says his most thorough biographer (1997) concludes that Dami was victim of the "evil advisor" trope, and that he pretty much just did what he was told. Now, not having read the book or the primary sources, I can easily imagine that his revisionist biographer would be biased in Dami's favor, but it's worth noting that there is an alternative account out there.
(The biography is at Stabi--unfortunately, in Italian. And I can't get a cheap copy to disassemble and run through Google Translate, so unfortunately, I think the road runs out here. Same for the same author's bio of Gian Gastone.)
Let's also note that if 1731 is the year of Spanish occupation and rowdy Ruspanti, 1733 is the year of Algarotti falling in love with the city and being super disillusioned 6 weeks later and deciding to leave.
This is also of great interest to me, because fix-it fic that will never get written has our protagonists--Fritz, Wilhelmine, Katte, Keith--arriving in Italy for a Grand Tour circa 1733 (exact year not decided). So I'm absolutely looking for any insights into what tourists might have encountered (besides dishy young bisexual Italians looking for a job).
hot lackey Giuliano Dami, who is exceptionally beautiful, and whom Gian Gastone falls for and takes with him to Germany when he sets off to marry as ordered by Dad.
Who, per Wikipedia, was not yet 14 when the wedding took place, so if you add in travel time and some time for Gian Gastone to acquire him in Italy before that, was 13 at most when Gian Gastone decided he was hot stuff, and 15 when he was allegedly winning Gian Gastone over to a debauched lifestyle in Prague. (Gian Gastone was 12 years older.)
Maybe, maybe not.
their prominence embarrasses the polite historian, though he may not cancel the rôles they played in Gian Gastone's latter years.
Take note, Roaring Twenties editor of Sophie's letters! I somehow doubt she had 370 prostitutes staging orgies in her bedroom and running wild in the streets. :P
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Re: Harold Acton: Last of the Medici I: How to make really bad marriages
Date: 2021-06-20 05:49 pm (UTC)Hahahahaha, but we are contractually obligated to give
This was one of those things, like kickboxer kicks, war chariots, and frogs, that I found myself going, "...Did this really happen?" So I must add the following two caveats. Acton asked himself the same "Did this really happen?" question, and concluded:
Unspeakably revolting scenes were said to have followed and though we may not give credit to them all, as the saying goes: there is no smoke without fire.
While I believe that there is certainly smoke without fire, especially where celebrities are concerned, in a well-documented century like the 18th, I'm more willing to credit it. Especially the rowdiness on the public streets with many witnesses.
So Tuscan shenanigans were definitely happening.
As for Giuliano Dami, Italian wiki says his most thorough biographer (1997) concludes that Dami was victim of the "evil advisor" trope, and that he pretty much just did what he was told. Now, not having read the book or the primary sources, I can easily imagine that his revisionist biographer would be biased in Dami's favor, but it's worth noting that there is an alternative account out there.
(The biography is at Stabi--unfortunately, in Italian. And I can't get a cheap copy to disassemble and run through Google Translate, so unfortunately, I think the road runs out here. Same for the same author's bio of Gian Gastone.)
Let's also note that if 1731 is the year of Spanish occupation and rowdy Ruspanti, 1733 is the year of Algarotti falling in love with the city and being super disillusioned 6 weeks later and deciding to leave.
This is also of great interest to me, because fix-it fic that will never get written has our protagonists--Fritz, Wilhelmine, Katte, Keith--arriving in Italy for a Grand Tour circa 1733 (exact year not decided). So I'm absolutely looking for any insights into what tourists might have encountered (besides dishy young bisexual Italians looking for a job).
hot lackey Giuliano Dami, who is exceptionally beautiful, and whom Gian Gastone falls for and takes with him to Germany when he sets off to marry as ordered by Dad.
Who, per Wikipedia, was not yet 14 when the wedding took place, so if you add in travel time and some time for Gian Gastone to acquire him in Italy before that, was 13 at most when Gian Gastone decided he was hot stuff, and 15 when he was allegedly winning Gian Gastone over to a debauched lifestyle in Prague. (Gian Gastone was 12 years older.)
Maybe, maybe not.
their prominence embarrasses the polite historian, though he may not cancel the rôles they played in Gian Gastone's latter years.
Take note, Roaring Twenties editor of Sophie's letters! I somehow doubt she had 370 prostitutes staging orgies in her bedroom and running wild in the streets. :P