Here’s the new poster for Showtime’s “The Borgias”.  Isn’t it gorgeous? Less than two months to the premiere!

Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI is remembered as a corrupt pope who committed virtually every sin imaginable but he was also the great-grandfather of a saint. 

 Francis Borgia de Gandia d’Aragon was born in 1510.  The son of Juan Borgia, 3rd Duke of Gandia and Joana of Aragon, he was the grandson of Rodrigo’s son, Juan, whose mysterious death in 1497 remains one of the great crimes ascribed by some to the Borgias.  From his childhood, Francis was known as pious and humble.  Despite his desire to enter the priesthood, he bowed to his family’s plans, married, and fathered eight children.  After the death of his wife, he took holy orders and became a priest in the Society of Jesus.  Refusing a cardinal’s hat, he ultimately became Father General of the Society.  Throughout his life, he was regarded as pious and humble.  He was canonized in 1670, becoming Saint Francis Borgia but he remains relatively unknown compared to his far more scandalous relatives.

“The second heady adventure of Renaissance bad girl Francesca Giordano makes last year’s Poison look like a mere aperitif, as Poole serves up another aromatic elixir of political power plays, seductive romance, and dark derring-do. The pretty poisoner is the 20-year-old daughter of the late Giovanni Giordano, who served 10 years as poisoner to the House of Borgia and was murdered for his efforts. Francesca now serves Pope Alexander IV, also known as Rodrigo Borgia. Although involved with Borgia’s eldest son, Cesare, Francesca still cares for a glassmaker who introduced her to a secret scientific society called the “Lux.” She strives to protect the pope and avenge her father’s death by killing Bernardo Morozzi, the man responsible, who is himself intent on killing her (whom he’s dubbed “the witch”), as well as the pope, thus removing Borgia from power and replacing him with someone he can control. A nice accompaniment for this spring’s The Borgias TV series, Poole’s hypnotic, richly detailed historical provides an illuminating portrait of Italy’s most powerful Renaissance family. (June)”–Publishers Weekly

Before it was a great book by Thomas Wolfe, “bonfire of the vanities” referred to an event that occurred in Florence on this day in 1497. Led by the radical Dominican priest, Girolamo Savonarola, who had overthrown the ruling Medicis, many of the citizens of Florence gathered up and burned objects believed to induce sin, among them priceless books and works of art.

What’s the connection to the Borgias? A little more than a year later, it was Savonarola who was being burned at the order of Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI.