The Botticelli Secret

February 8, 2010
The city-states of Renaissance Italy serve as the vibrant backdrop for this less than successful homage to The Da Vinci Code
from Fiorato (The
Glassblower of Murano
). In 1482 Florence, while prostitute Luciana Vetra is posing for Botticelli’s Primavera
, she makes a casual comment that terrifies the artist. Sent away unpaid, Luciana steals a miniature of the painting in revenge. When she discovers that an assassin is on her trail, she flees Florence with the most trustworthy companion she can find, handsome and cultured monk Brother Guido della Torre. As the two decode the secrets hidden in the painting (and fall in love), its meanings send them on a quest through Italy to save their own lives and avert a conspiracy involving the greatest powers of the day. Luciana’s energetic narrative voice keeps the pages turning, but lengthy passages deconstructing La Primavera
yield secrets, unlike those in Dan Brown’s bestseller, with little resonance for modern readers.

December 1, 2009
Da Vinci had a code; now it's Botticelli's turn.

Lusty, foul-mouthed Florentine prostitute Luciana happily plies her trade on the Ponte Vecchio in 1482. Her beauty attracts wealthy clients like Bembo, whose priceless black pearl is embedded in her navel. So when Franciscan novice Brother Guido offers her a religious pamphlet, she scoffs. She enjoys the oldest profession, and she's even been tapped to model for the goddess of spring, one of eight mythical figures depicted in Botticelli's latest masterpiece, Primavera. After she poses, Luciana steals a cartone, template for the larger Primavera, and replaces it with Guido's pamphlet. When she returns to her hovel, she finds her roommate dead, throat cut. Fearing she's angered agents of Florentine despot Lorenzo de' Medici, Luciana flees to Bembo, but the throat-slashers get there first. Off to Brother Guido's monastery, where the bloodletting continues. The cartone must be valuable, but why? Guido hopes his noble uncle, Lord Sylvio of Pisa, can intervene with Lorenzo. But Sylvio is poisoned, and his son Niccolœ wants Guido dead. The cartone, and Primavera itself, apparently encode a nefarious plot by the Seven, magnates of Italia's fractious city-states, but to what end? Learning that His Holiness is a co-conspirator shakes Guido's faith—a positive development for Luciana, who hopes he'll defrock them both. Eventually, Luciana encounters her long-lost mother, the ruthless Dogaressa of Venice, who consigned her to a convent as a baby after political enemies threatened her life. Guido is arrested, and Luciana whisked back to Venice; she has been promised since infancy to Niccolœ as part of her parents' political schemes. Luciana must escape her mother, find Guido and avert the conspiracy. Though Fiorato (The Glassblower of Murano, 2009, etc.) minutely and tediously parses every development for clues, she glides right over the big question of why convent-raised Luciana strolled off at age 12 with someone who promised her a pretty dress and cheerfully spent the next four years as a street trollop.

Intricate but derivative.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 15, 2010
Fiorato ("The Glassblower of Murano") crafts a historical novel in the style of Susan Vreeland's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" blended with painting as code la "The Da Vinci Code". The painting at issue is Botticelli's "Primavera". What if one of the most famous paintings in the world was actually an elaborate military blueprint depicted symbolically? We shadow Luciana Vetra, a beautiful and foul-mouthed whore, through 15th-century Florence and much of Renaissance Italy. Employed by Botticelli as a model for one of the primary figures in the painting, Luciana becomes embroiled in intrigue when her theft of a preliminary sketch is discovered, and she is thought to know more than she does about its secret purpose. The clever nature of the interpretation of "Primavera" is not Fiorato's but based upon several scholarly resources cited in the author's note. VERDICT The heroine's foul mouth may be off-putting to some sensitive readers. Additionally, while large portions of the book read more like a romance than a historical thriller, romance readers will likely find it too crass. In the end, it seems as if the author had two books in mind. Recommended for libraries with generous budgets to purchase all new novels.Laura A.B. Cifelli, Ft. Myers-Lee Cty. P.L., FL

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2010
Luciana Vetra, revered prostitute of Florence, earns the chance to pose for Botticelli as Flora in Primavera, but the session goes awry when her innocent words anger the artist. Not one to endure an insult, she retaliates by stealing a smaller version of the painting. Her roommate and patron are killed when the artist sends agents to reclaim the painting, leaving Luciana with only one ally to turn to, the comely novice Brother Guido who has tried to convert her. They flee Florence for their lives and to solve the deadly secret hidden within the artwork. Following her debut, The Glassblower of Murano (2009), Fiorato creates her own masterpiece set at the height of Medici power. Renaissance Italy comes alive in brilliant sights and sounds from marbled halls to filthy sewers. Luciana is irrepressible, unabashed, and an absolute hoot while Guido foils her nicely as the learned, noble Holmes to her Watson. Political intrigue is deftly woven throughout, allowing readers to try their best sleuthing. Fiorato even layers in a charming love story for good measure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)