Medici: Ascendancy

The novel opens with a striking image: Cosimo de' Medici stands on the wooden scaffolding of Santa Maria del Fiore, a hundred braccia above the ground, gazing at Brunelleschi's dome. The author presents Filippo Brunelleschi — «a bald, hot-tempered, mad goldsmith with broken teeth» — as a vivid character; the dome, rising from its octagonal drum with no visible support, is a symbol of glory for both the city and the Medici who fund it.

The moment is broken by the arrival of his brother Lorenzo: their father, Giovanni de' Medici, is gravely ill. On his deathbed Giovanni charges his son: «Be sober in politics, live modestly like an ordinary Florentine, but do not hold back from being resolute when needed.» The silent reading of Giovanni's written testament and their mother Piccarda's political advice — stay close to the people while winning over some of the nobles — lay the foundations of Cosimo's future strategy.

The thriller plot kicks in at once: in the garden Lorenzo shows his brother a cluster of black berries — poisonous belladonna — and says he suspects their father was poisoned. The brothers begin a secret investigation, and suspicion falls on Laura, a raven-haired maid recently hired by the household. Tailing her, Lorenzo reaches a perfumer's shop and comes face to face with Schwartz, a Swiss mercenary; the duel ends with Lorenzo's defeat and the threat, «next time we may decide to kill you for real».

In parallel, the antagonists are introduced: the arrogant Rinaldo degli Albizzi, lounging in a tavern, and the subtler Palla Strozzi. Albizzi plans to unleash the condottiero Niccolò Fortebraccio on Florence and seize power amid the chaos; Strozzi proposes a more «elegant» route — attack Lucca and appear as Florence's saviors.

With the heading «August 1430», the story leaps forward: Cosimo and Lorenzo gallop to the villa of the elderly, peace-minded Niccolò da Uzzano, promising to buy off Francesco Sforza to reassure allies opposed to the war on Lucca. A bloody battle scene follows in which Sforza's cavalry routs Fortebraccio's army — Strukul doesn't romanticize war: «there was no honour to be won, only money».

The section closes with young Piero telling his mother Contessina that he wants to fight — «I'm a Medici too, but I'm not a politician or a merchant!» — opening a new line of generational tension. The chapters are short, the scenes filmic, the prose rich in adjectives and at times a little ornate; that showy style comes through in the Turkish translation as well.

• Short chapters and frequently shifting points of view (the Medici, Albizzi, Sforza) create a TV-series rhythm
• Brunelleschi's dome serves as the novel's symbolic axis
• Historical figures come alive through dialogue, though some (especially the villains) remain one-dimensional
• Descriptions are sometimes overwrought and heavy with adjectives