The Ghost Of Girolamo Riario

The book is a historical novel born from a fact that really happened in 2010 in Forlì, when some people told in the chronicles of local newspapers, that they saw a ghost in the town hall of Forlì, who was walking around with part of his head smashed, complaining. They also recounted the strangeness of having seen him hanging outside the wall of that building, near a window on the first floor, as if he was dancing suspended in thin air. But who was that ghost? What was he doing in that place? Why was his head bashed in? Who did he look like that? What was he complaining about? This book tells the story of a man called Girolamo Riario, nephew or perhaps illegitimate son of Pope Sixtus IV, who was murdered over five centuries ago in the city of Forli, but few or no one seems to remember him.
The book is a mix of mystery and history and explains a settling of accounts that took place between Florence and Romagna during the Renaissance. In a few words it tells how Riario and his Uncle Pope Sixtus IV, were the instigators of the Pazzi conspiracy, where they ordered the Pazzi family to assassinate Giuliano De Medici in the Duomo of Florence and Lorenzo the Magnificent was just missed. Then Lorenzo set up a secret company called ”De uccitori” to avenge that conspiracy, and after having caught the perpetrators and hung them in the Palazzo della Signoria, they also hunted down Girolamo Riario, Caterina Sforza's first husband, who in the meantime had become Count of Forlì, and had him assassinated inside the Town Hall by smashing his skull in exactly the same way he had done with Giuliano De Medici. Then they hung him in the town hall of Forlì, just as the people of Florence hung the one in Florence, all those who took part in the conspiracy of the Pazzi and more that you will discover and understand on your own, as you go on reading. Written quickly and fluently, halfway between essay and narrative, this historical novel, perhaps for the first time ever, reveals, frankly and directly, many mysteries and things that happened to a person called Girolamo Riario, husband of Caterina Sforza and nephew of Pope Sixtus IV murdered more than 500 years ago by a conspiracy in the town hall of Forlì. It contains news and also explains events and details never observed or completely forgotten for a long time, which hardly anyone, even if he was a good historian, knew more. And here is a list of some of the things you will find in the book. Was a book written in verse announcing Riario's death? Who wrote it? On whose behalf? Was it the first time anyone had seen the ghost of Riario? Why was the ghost's head smashed in? Why was the ghost seen dancing on the outside wall of the town hall? Who were Riario's assassins? What had Riario done to end up like that? Did Riario and his Uncle Pope Sixtus try to assassinate Lorenzo De Medici and his brother? What did Lorenzo the Magnificent do against Riario? Why did Riario enter the church only surrounded by guards? Why did he walk out of the palace with an iron crush under his robes? Was a company of assassins or 'De uccitori' set up to assassinate him? By whom was it created? What writings appeared in the gates and columns of the churches of Forli before his assassination? What did Riario's assassins really do after they killed him? Was Riario thrown from a window in the town hall? From which window in the town hall was he thrown? How long has the place where he fell been considered marked and cursed? Were there alchemists and astrologers in Romagna? Who were they? Did the Franciscans build a pawnshop in Forli? Why? Did the Jews and the Franciscans fight each other financially? Why did so many people think that Caterina Sforza, Riario's wife, had shown her shame from the battlements of the fortress of Forli? How were the facts and what did she really show? And so much more that you will discover and understand for yourself during the reading.