Description

In the Florence of the 15th century and the turbulent 16th century, Niccolò Machiavelli learned that politics does not resemble sermons, but rather real life: ambition, fear, shifting alliances, and decisions that carry a cost. This book traces his trajectory from the fierce city that shaped him to the corridors of power, the diplomatic missions, the fall, the internal exile, and writing as a way of existing once again. This sixteenth installment follows the constant thread of light and shadow: the official who serves the republic and the observer who describes, without makeup, what power does to survive. Amidst the Medici, Savonarola, and Cesare Borgia, the man behind the myth emerges alongside the question that still causes discomfort: was The Prince a manual for dominion... or the desperate testimony of someone who knew the State from the inside?