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Italians are the dishiest, no lie
Date: 2021-11-17 08:56 pm (UTC)Okay, so, I'm just starting to dig into the batshit Medici, but in the interests of sharing the gossipy sensationalism bit by bit so I don't get overwhelmed by having to write everything up when I'm done with a bunch of books, I feel the need to share this bit of hilarity that doesn't require much context.
Context is modern biographer of Giuliano Dami talking about how almost everything we know about Giuliano is probably a lie since it comes from a tabloid equivalent and not the archives. And even archives are iffy. But the one thing we can be sure we know, is this guy was HOT.
Why?
Non è dettato da retorica nazionalistica o campanilistica affermare che l'Italia intera, la Toscana in particolare e Firenze soprattutto, non sono soltanto culla di bellezze artistiche ma anche patria di un incantevole popolo dalle armoniose forme, senza pari al mondo.
It is not dictated by nationalistic or parochial rhetoric to affirm that the whole of Italy, Tuscany in particular and Florence above all, are not only the cradle of artistic beauty but also the home of an enchanting people with harmonious shapes, unparalleled in the world.
Says the Florentine. :D
Fritz: Venetians. Definitely Venetians.
Algarotti: Venetian or Florentine, either way, we're more passionate than you northerners!
Nel tardo Seicento, a Firenze come nel contado, quale che fosse allora il concetto di bellezza fisica, la presenza di un bel giovane non era certamente una rarità degna di essere tramandata ai posteri.
In the late seventeenth century, in Florence as in the countryside, whatever the concept of physical beauty was then, the presence of a handsome young man was certainly not a rarity worthy of being handed down to posterity.
So if contemporaries keep pointing out that Giuliano Dami was so hot that he rose from obscurity to the top of the pecking order in Tuscany, by seducing Grand Duke Gian Gastone de' Medici, the guy who had upward of 300 male prostitutes, we know Giuliano must have been REALLY SOMETHING.
Several things in this preface have made me ROFL and also think, "This might not be the most objective historian ever." But at least he prints hundreds of pages of primary sources, so I'll take what I can get. There aren't exactly a ton of Giuliano Dami bios out there.
Other ways in which the author (Alberto Bruschi) caused my eyebrows to go up:
1. Acknowledge that he's a novelist at heart trying to write history. Fine, so far. Many people are good at both! Some of us in salon, even, to differing degrees. But then he produces pages of what is apparently self-therapy trying to convince himself to stick to the facts. The entire passage reads as though he's inventing the genre of history, and trying to convince a readership that has never read anything but novels that it's okay and possibly even advantageous to write history, and not elaborate it with made up details and dialogues.
As someone who picked up this book expecting history, this felt a little unnecessary. Or like something you write for yourself as self-therapy but then don't print. :P But okay. You do you, Bruschi.
(Horowski gives us the best of both worlds, and that's why I love him.)
2. Open and close the book by interpreting Giuliano's life through the lens of the author's personal devout Catholicism. Well, I guess it doesn't hurt for the reader to know the author feels *that* strongly on the subject before setting out?
I'm only a few pages into the book because I took the opportunity of my interlinear translation to try to beef up my Italian a little. I saw the final sentence only because I was preparing the digitized file. At some point I'll probably start just reading the English.
At any rate, will report back when I have more info!
The tabloid translated into English by Harold Acton, devout believer of tabloids, btw, was hilarious and also OMGWTF D:. Both the tabloid proper and the two prefaces. I'm only holding off on fully reporting on it because I want to have read the 1990s archive-oriented history first, so I can critique it properly.
But for now I'll just report, from the 1930 prefaces, that not only was GG's wife super ugly, anyone who knows how ugly a German widow can be will sympathize with GG and his alcoholism, gambling, and over-the-top sexual profligacy. Just FYI,
*facepalm*
(See also: why I haven't finished the book on G1 and the GNW. Things like this are super distracting!)
Re: Italians are the dishiest, no lie
Date: 2021-11-20 03:31 pm (UTC)Algarotti: Venetian or Florentine, either way, we're more passionate than you northerners!
Various Tsarinas and their lovers would like to doubt that theory. In particular, Poniatowski, Grigorii Orlov and Potemkin in a rare, unparalleled example of unanimous agreement. Catherine just laughs. So do both Annas.
Re: Italians are the dishiest, no lie
Date: 2021-11-20 04:48 pm (UTC)It's even worse than that. This isn't Acton, this is his buddy Norman Douglas who wrote an introduction to the volume for him. Anna Maria Franziska can't catch a break! (So far, Alberto Bruschi's not a big fan of her either, but I haven't yet read his bio of her.)
ETA: And I forgot to add that when I looked up Norman Douglas when I was first trying to track down a copy of this book, I discovered that he fled England on bail in 1917 because of child rape accusations, went to Italy, fled to France in 1937 for the same reason. But ugly Germans are the worst, amirite?
Catherine just laughs. So do both Annas.
Hee! But did any of them ever have an Italian for comparison, Algarotti and Alberto Bruschi ask?
Gian Gastone: Speaking as an Italian with extensive experience of both, I thought northerners, especially Germans, were totally passionate when they were in the Ruspanti. Just not my wife.
Re: Italians are the dishiest, no lie
Date: 2021-11-20 05:50 pm (UTC)1897 kaufte er am Posillipo bei Neapel, Italien, eine Villa (Villa Maya). Er begann ein Verhältnis mit dem 15-jährigen Bruder seiner damaligen 16-jährigen Geliebten.
Okay then. Also, in his later divorce he got the two kids, because his wife's infidelity. At least he didn't lock up his wife? But yeah. I bet Giuliano Dami's age when meeting Gian Gastone wasn't a problem for him...
Giuliano Dami's age
Date: 2021-11-20 06:16 pm (UTC)Ha, I had missed that. Perhaps!
I bet Giuliano Dami's age when meeting Gian Gastone wasn't a problem for him...
Ah, but this is one of the things I was going to talk about today! GG has been exonerated! For lo, this happened:
Bruschi: The anonymous manuscript claims, and other historians repeat, that Giuliano accompanied GG on his way to his wedding in Bohemia, meaning GG arrived with his lover in tow (and therefore wasn't committed to his marriage from the get-go). But nobody has ever asked how old Giuliano was at the time!
Mildred: Me, me! I asked! And was appalled by the answer.
Bruschi: The anonymous manuscript, while it gives all sorts of juicy (and unreliable, slanderous) details about Giuliano's origins, leaves out the most basic fact: when was he born? And I can tell you that he was born in 1683, meaning he would have been 14 when the wedding took place. Now, first of all, nobody takes a 14-yo as a companion on a trip like this.
Me: Your faith in human nature exceeds mine. Also, they don't necessarily have had to have been sexually involved at the time. Giuliano could have just been one lackey in a sizable retinue that wasn't necessarily hand-picked to consist 100% of people having sexual relations with the prince. But go on.
Bruschi: And second of all, I have documentary evidence showing that Giuliano was still in Italy, employed by an Italian noble, in 1703, meaning when he was 20. He didn't enter GG's service until his early 20s.
Me: Woot! Must tell salon and clear GG's name!
ETA: I must add that Bruschi is attempting to clear GG's name of having entered an arranged marriage to a complete stranger with no intention of being sexually faithful to her. I, who heartily disapprove of the double standard toward women but am reluctant to condemn human beings for finding emotional and sexual satisfaction outside of a cold-bloodedly arranged marriage, am more concerned about whether he was RAPING a CHILD or not.
Son of ETA: Oh, and in conclusion, Norman Douglas may or may not have known how old Giuliano would have been when he allegedly accompanied GG to his wedding, since Giuliano's name and age aren't in the manuscript that Acton published, nor, I think, in Acton's book?, and Bruschi hadn't published yet, but I think we can safely say Douglas wouldn't have minded if he did know. Ugh.
Re: Giuliano Dami's age
Date: 2021-11-21 12:48 am (UTC)Okay, this was hilarious :P
Bruschi: And second of all, I have documentary evidence showing that Giuliano was still in Italy, employed by an Italian noble, in 1703, meaning when he was 20. He didn't enter GG's service until his early 20s.
Me: Woot! Must tell salon and clear GG's name!
Ah, excellent!
I, who heartily disapprove of the double standard toward women but am reluctant to condemn human beings for finding emotional and sexual satisfaction outside of a cold-bloodedly arranged marriage, am more concerned about whether he was RAPING a CHILD or not.
YEP
(geez, Norman Douglas, though! :( )