by Fay Picardi (Author)
Have you ever wondered about who Botticelli chose to depict in his immortal painting Birth of Venus? Was she a real person, his model or his mistress? Most people recognize her image, but few can name her. Even fewer know her personal story. Do you know that her liaisons with the Medici family at the height of the Italian Renaissance caused such a sensation that the intrigue endures today? That Lorenzo de' Medici wrote love poems to her? That Botticelli asked to be buried at her feet? After years of research, poet and author Fay Picardi carefully unveils the captivating narrative portrait of this fascinating woman and adds enough detail that the reader feels as if he or she is inhabiting Florence during the period of Lorenzo de' Medici.
Author Biography
Fay Picardi is an internationally published poet and Fulbright scholar whose volumes of poetry, Nana's Sunday Dance and The Stones Speak, can be found on Amazon. Simonetta is the author's first prose work. In preparation for writing Simonetta's story, Fay spent months studying Italian, traveling throughout Tuscany and Liguria and doing research at the Biblioteca degli Uffizi and the Biblioteca Nationale di Firenze.