NYU Wordpress Theme

NYU Florence

A Confession That Changes History: NYU Florence’s Marcello Simonetta Discovers New Twist in Pazzi Conspiracy

Posted on by Katie L

A newly found signed confession alters what historians thought they knew about one of history’s greatest conspiracies

Two men seated

Marcello Simonetta, right, narrates a reenactment of the Pazzi Conspiracy at Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio on April 26, 2023, the 500-year anniversary of the event.

Had Antonio Maffei da Volterra successfully assassinated Lorenzo de’ Medici, the course of Italian history would have been altered immensely. The roots of the infamous Pazzi conspiracy to oust the Medici family as rulers of Florence ran deep—everyone from the pope to the king of Naples had a part in it. The failed conspiracy took place over 500 years ago this spring, and today, few people know more about it than NYU Florence instructor Marcello Simonetta. So when he uncovered a confession letter from Antonio Maffei earlier this year, unearthing details never known before of the attempted assassination, Simonetta was astounded.

“I’ve been around these materials for a long time. I know the story quite well. I even wrote a book about it,” says Simonetta. “This confession wasn’t supposed to exist, but it does, and it’s amazing.” Simonetta laughs when he says this, but then notes that distrust is the most important part of being a successful historian. He explains that you have to believe there is more to every story—that the historians who came before you didn’t finish the job and left something more to discover—even when you don’t know what that something is. And in this case, it is a confession letter written and signed by Antonio Maffei shortly before his death.

“It’s the last thing he wrote, because soon after writing the confession, he died,” says Simonetta, who found the confession at the Archivio di Stato di Firenze in a file of poems, wills, and other completely unrelated documents. “Archives are the treasures of our past. If you look close enough, you’ll find things that are unbelievable but true.”

In the confession Maffei shares a timeline for the planned assassination of the Medici brothers (Lorenzo, who was injured, and Guiliano, who did not survive). Unaware of his specific role in the assassination until the day before it happened, he wrote that he arrived in Florence months before April 26, 1478—the day the plot was to be enacted. This information contradicts what writer and philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli wrote in Florentine Histories, which is considered one of the most accurate accounts of the conspiracy. But just the existence of the confession—that Maffei even had time to write it—debunks the idea that he was beaten and hanged immediately after the attack.

“There are a lot of details about the preparation of the conspiracy, which we didn’t know before,” explains Simonetta. “But the bottom line is we had no idea that Antonio arrived seven months ahead of time. These are all incredible details that make it very real and very human. The failure of the conspiracy is astounding, but also the conspiracy itself, as Machiavelli points out among other things, is extraordinary.”

Simonetta is an expert on Machiavelli and teaches a class about him at NYU Florence. As a matter of fact, Simonetta made the discovery at the same time the class was reading Machiavelli’s On Conspiracies, specifically the section about the Pazzi conspiracy.

Handwritten Italian text on a piece of paper

Antonio Maffei’s confession of the attempted assassination

“The students had read the materials, but they didn’t know there was this new element that had just surfaced from the dust of the past, so I used it in the class,” Simonetta notes. “When I can, I love to use firsthand documents because it makes history so much more alive. And that’s what history is all about. It’s about imagination; without imagination it’s just data. It’s raw data, so who cares? But when history becomes living history, which is a pun—lethal history more than living in this case—it comes alive.”

Simonetta says that having the opportunity to bring history to life for his students has been one of his favorite parts about teaching at NYU Florence. Teaching in the city where these events took place, he adds, brings a dynamic to the classroom experience that is unobtainable anywhere else in the world.

“I’ve taught classes about Machiavelli in the United States, but it’s not the same as going to the Basilica di Santa Croce and seeing his tomb. Or going to the villa where he wrote The Prince,” Simonetta concludes. “It becomes so real: you can touch it, you can feel it exactly as it is. So being here, in Florence, is an enormous plus for my students and for me.”

Written by Kelly McHugh-Stewart

Faculty Spotlight: Justin Randolph Thompson

Posted on by Maxine P
Three students of color talking with the Florence Duomo in the distance.

NYU Florence students enjoying the view of the Duomo from Piazzale Michelangelo

One marker of success when spending extended time in a new place (especially as a student) is how comprehensively one engages with the local culture. At NYU Florence, students are immersed in Italian and, specifically, Florentine culture through a range of courses and activities. And for over six years, Global Lecturer Justin Randolph Thompson has worked to ensure that experience includes the rich history of Black people in Italy.

In addition to his role as a lecturer at NYU Florence, Thompson, an artist, cultural facilitator, and educator, is the cofounder and director of Black History Month Florence, a multifaceted exploration of Black histories and cultures in the context of Italy. He also works with faculty and students to provide support for study abroad programs, offer internships and workshops, and share a space to connect with Black culture abroad. As a young man living in Italy, Thompson, who has lived between the United States and Italy since 1999, found that his relationship to Blackness was very much shaped by his environment.

Black History Month Florence

The first Black History Month Florence was created in 2016 to inspire much-needed connection—as a way to link Thompson’s projects to institutions in Florence and elevate his message. “Blackness extends into antiquity; there has never been a time in Italian history when there were not Black people here. But the country needed a framework to engage in more expansive conversations about Blackness.” Therefore, Thompson and cofounder Andre Thomas Halyard worked to build a network of like-minded people, artists, and writers to engage people with this history.

“In 1926 historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Month because there was a need to tell a more complete story about the United States. And 90 years later, there was a need to tell a more complete story about Italy,” Thompson explains. This year’s celebration, which began on February 1, has expanded to include about 50 events, and its network now stretches across Italy and beyond. “It’s a huge cultural moment,” Thompson says. “Every single time we’re able to pull this together thanks to a range of partners, it is an incredible demonstration of what’s possible.”

The Recovery Plan

Now that Thompson’s work has grown, Black History Month Florence is but one piece of a much more comprehensive puzzle. The Recovery Plan, which developed from the success of Black History Month Florence, is a Black cultural center that examines the history and contemporary legacy of Blackness in a global context. The center hosts a range of exhibitions, performances, lectures, seminars, workshops, and residencies designed to reflect upon Italy as a historic site for cultural exchange.

The Recovery Plan collaborates with organizations and institutions throughout and beyond Italy, supporting young Black Italian artists. The center also nourishes an archive and library for the study of Afrodescendent cultures while helping to provide training and support to its partners.

“This is the work that really needs to happen in order to safeguard layers of history that have been consistently excluded,” Thompson says. “These absences impact all of society.”

The Work Together Is the Reward

Thompson has exhibited and performed at institutions all over the world, including the Contemporary at Blue Star art institution in San Antonio, Texas; Villa Romana in Florence, Italy; the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, New York; and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain. He has also won a number of awards, including a 2022 Creative Capital Award, a 2020 Italian Council Research Fellowship, and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Competition award.

These awards have given Thompson the freedom to experiment and push the boundaries of his work, beginning projects and bringing on new partners even if he doesn’t know the outcome from the start. As an educator, he follows a similar philosophy: “My teaching—and the way I live my life—is about developing a relationship where we can question everything and exchange what it is that we do know,” he says. “Together, we create a more complete picture. Every one of us can contribute such important things to this world.”

Written by Sarah Bender