The Shepherdess of Siena: A Novel of Renaissance Tuscany (49 page)

A
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In writing
The Shepherdess of Siena
, I primarily used documents that were part of the de’ Medici archives, but also everything I could track down about Virginia Tacci. Of great help was the Accademia dei Rossi and specifically Ettore Pellegrini, who shared all the information he had found in his own research. Also the dissertation of Dr. Elizabeth M. Tobey,
The Palio in Italian Renaissance Art, Thought, and Culture
, was of enormous help to me. (Even the Senese were astonished by her depth of research.)

Sarah Dunant’s marvelous novel
Sacred Hearts
was of tremendous research value. For those who want to learn more about convent life in Ferrara, I highly recommend Dunant’s book.

Among the many books on the Palio I used for reference, the following were brightly fanned with sticky notes:
La Terra in Piazza: An Interpretation of the Palio of Siena
by Alan Dundes and Alessandro Falassi;
Palio and Its Image
:
History, Culture, and Representation of Siena’s Festival
by Maria A. Ceppari Ridolfi;
Tutta Siena, Contrada per Contrada
by Piero Torriti;
Palio: The Race of the Soul
by Mauro Civai and Enrico Toti;
Io, Rompicollo
by Rosanna Bonelli.

The de’ Medici family’s story is so well documented that I basically followed the storyline. Caroline Murphy’s book
Murder of a Medici Princess
was indispensible. I really didn’t have to create drama—the de’ Medici family provided it. There are some plot points I have modified slightly.

Mary Steegmann’s book
Bianca Cappello
(1913) gave me insights into Francesco de’ Medici’s mistress and wife.

Thanks to the Medici Archive Project, and especially Sheila Barker for her assistance. I found a document that showed the Granduca Francesco’s gratitude to Pietro for the gift of a hunting eagle. The letter shows a very cordial—even lighthearted—correspondence between the two brothers. If Francesco de’ Medici were not complicit in the murders of the two women, I doubt he would have maintained such a good relationship with his brother, the murderer.

As mentioned, the de’ Medici family is well documented. Virginia Tacci’s story, on the other hand, was much harder to investigate. I could not find any record of her life after 1581. The second half of her story is my invention.

Orione, too, was poetic license. However, it is part of the historical record that Federigo Barbolani di Montauto, governor of Siena, gave Virginia Tacci a horse as a present. The governor was a great admirer of hers, as evidenced in this letter to Granduca Francesco de’ Medici in 1581:

This young woman has begun to practice this art of race riding
. . .
not without manifest danger of breaking her neck
. . .
but she doesn’t make any sign of falling, but rides with much artfulness and dexterity
. . . 
. She not only knows how to master and hold the mature and unbridled race horses, but also the hot-tempered and speedy colts, and she is able to assert herself with many of them, such that, tamed of their ferocity, they become gentle with her.

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

Photo © 2014 Roger Adams

Linda Lafferty taught in public education for nearly three decades, in schools from the American School of Madrid to the Boulder Valley schools to the Aspen school district. She completed her PhD in bilingual special education and went on to work in that field, as well as teaching English as a second language and bilingual American history. Horses are Linda’s first love, and she rode on the University of Lancaster’s riding team for a year in England. As a teenager, she was introduced by her uncle to the sport of polo, and she played in her first polo tournament when she was seventeen. Linda also loves Siena, Italy, and the people of the region and has returned to the city half a dozen times in the past three years to research her novel. Linda is the author of three previous novels:
The Bloodletter’s Daughter
,
The Drowning Guard
,
and
House of Bathory
. She lives in Colorado with her husband.