(The Lady of the Dragon). Pope Sixtus IV’s nephew, Girolamo Riario, married Caterina Sforza, who was twenty years old and seven months pregnant when she seized the Sant’ Angelo Castle, shortly after the Pope’s death. Caterina also challenged the Cardinal’s Association while being cheered in Trastevere by the masses. She contacted Leonardo da Vinci, interviewed Machiavelli and made a deal with the Signoria of Florence, as Countess of Imola and Lady of Forli. She confronted Alexander VI and endured Cesar Borgia’s abuses untill her last days in the Rivaldino fortress. Caterina Sforza’s life shapes a novel where history in a most crucial moment for Europe mixes with a plot that keeps our interest untill the very last pages.
