Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence

In Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence, published in 2004, historian Gene Brucker describes the events of a single relationship in fifteenth-century Florence. This “microhistory” of a romance and subsequent court trial demonstrates how Florentine society treated love, marriage, and social class.

In Chapter 1, Brucker reveals that he learned of the relationship between Giovanni di Ser Lodovico della Casa and Lusanna di Girolamo through the records of the notary Ser Filippo Mazzei. As fifteenth-century Florence is a highly litigious society, notaries such as Ser Filippo play crucial roles in their community. Ser Filippo is the notary in the archiepiscopal court of Archbishop Antoninus, who is the highest religious authority in Florence. In 1455, the Pope issues Antoninus an order to investigate the claims of Lusanna, the daughter of a tailor and the widow of a baker. Lusanna alleges that she secretly married Giovanni, who has since married another woman—a crime known as bigamy. As Antoninus’s notary, Ser Filippo dutifully records every step of the ensuing church investigation and trial.

Chapter 2 outlines Giovanni’s and Lusanna’s respective portrayals of their relationship. According to Lusanna, the aristocratic bachelor Giovanni began his romantic advances toward her while she was married to her husband, Andrea Nucci, though she did not reciprocate them at the time. When Andrea passed away and Lusanna became a widow, Giovanni intensified his pursuit. Eventually, they married secretly, as Giovanni did not believe his father would approve of their relationship. After Giovanni’s father died, however, he married another woman from an aristocratic family. In Giovanni’s version of their romance, he and Lusanna began an intense adulterous affair while Andrea was still alive. According to Giovanni, the secret wedding never occurred, and he had many of Lusanna’s neighbors testify to her reputation as a promiscuous woman.

In Chapter 3, Brucker describes each step in Antoninus’s ensuing investigation of Giovanni and Lusanna’s romance. Giovanni’s procurators, who represent him in the trial, make numerous attempts to delay the investigation, arguing that Lusanna’s claims lack any evidence or merit. Soon after Antoninus begins his investigation, he learns that the civic court is conducting a separate investigation into allegations that Lusanna poisoned Andrea, which leads to a conflict between the two courts. After a compromise, Antoninus’s investigation continues with Giovanni and Lusanna each calling witnesses to testify to their version of the romance. Several months later, Antoninus announces his conclusion, siding with Lusanna and ordering Giovanni to accept her as his wife.

Chapter 4 opens with Brucker exploring what Giovanni and Lusanna’s relationship reveals about Florentine conceptions of love and society. According to Brucker, Florence is a highly hierarchical and stratified society regarding divisions of gender and class. While aristocratic bachelors such as Giovanni are granted a large amount of freedom in how they live their lives, women such as Lusanna must closely adhere to a moral code or risk being shunned by their community.

In the Epilogue, Brucker describes the aftermath of the trial, focusing on how the power of wealth allows Giovanni to do as he pleases. Giovanni appeals Antoninus’s decision, and the case is transferred to the Roman Catholic Church. Through his connections with prominent and wealthy Florentine families, such as the Medicis, Giovanni is able to influence the Catholic Church. Ultimately, the Catholic Church declares that Giovanni and Lusanna were never married, and it allows Giovanni to honor his second marriage. Decades later, Giovanni suffers business misfortunes and is ultimately excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Lusanna, however, disappears from the historical record, and her life following the trial is completely unknown.