Cultured, refined, intelligent, nonconformist, a strong, independent woman for the time, even if for reasons of state she often had to take a step back, bow, a devoted and obedient ‘pawn’ on the chessboard of history and political alliances. Witness, in spite of himself, of a world at sunset. Giulia Alberico has signed a new and surprising biography on Margaret of Austria, ‘the lady of Flanders’, natural daughter of Emperor Charles V and his mistress Giovanna van der Gheynst, Duchess of Florence, Parma and Piacenza, governor of the countries Bassi Spagnoli, married to Alessandro de ‘Medici and subsequently to Ottavio Farnese, half-sister of Felipe II of Spain and of Juan, the hero of Lepanto, mother of one of the greatest leaders of his time, Alessandro Farnese.
In love with Italy, ‘the lady of Flanders’ spent the last years of her life in Ortona, in the province of Chieti, but she loved Rome very much, she was very close to S. Ignazio di Loyola and financially supported the Casa di Santa Marta created to welcome poor women at risk of exploitation. After the death of her first husband, she lived in the building that is now the seat of the Senate of the Republic, ‘Palazzo Madama’.
We read in the introduction to the book: “it went through a century of splendor and blood, it was a pawn in the hands of the emperor and two popes (Clement VII and Paul III), it saw the end of a world and, above all , of her father’s dream. That of a united, imperial and Christian Europe. But she was also a lover of beauty, of music and art, of jewels “. A biography written in the first person, that of Giulia Alberico, ‘almost a diary’. The precious volume tells of the existence of a woman caught between public and private, politics and feelings, deep loneliness and uncertain obedience.
And the daughter of the emperor of Austria confesses in the pages of the book: “My life has been long and full. I have traveled through most of Europe, I have traveled mainly through Italy, I have met men and women of like but, come to think of it, I lived very alone. I don’t know the habit of days all the same made up of awakenings and nights and meals consumed with the spouse, the son, least of all father and mother. Always provisional and ready for the obedience that would have destined me to reside elsewhere … “.
A woman unknown to the great European history, yet protagonist, in spite of herself, born out of wedlock, but legitimized by a great and powerful emperor. “Margaret of Austria, by the will of her august father – explains Giulia Alberico to time.news – was educated at court. Music expert, reader of Latin classics, she spoke many languages, French, Flemish, Italian, Castilian . He had a boundless devotion to his father, a devoted and obedient daughter, he strenuously opposed him to the news of his marriage to Ottavio Farnese, much younger than her, who then accepted “.
“But there are other curiosities that prompted me to write the book – adds Giulia Alberico. Her role as governor of Flanders, for example, as her namesake Margaret, aunt of her father’s and later Maria, sister of Charles V. A role that he played with skill and diplomacy, in a continuous dialogue between the forces of the country, among other things in the complex and tormented period of the struggles between Catholics and Protestants “.
“And then there is the very rich toponymy between Rome and the Rieti area, of which Margherita of Austria left traces – explains the novelist and writer – Palazzo Madama, seat of the Senate, Villa Madama in Monte Mario next to Castel Madama , Cittaducale, at the lake of the Duchessa (the body of Moro was looked for there at the time of the kidnapping by the Br), at the Monti della Duchessa “.