ItwastheageofDaVinciandMichelangelo,ofenlightenedcreativityandunparalleledintellectualachievement.ButitwasalsotheageofMachievelli,oframpantlawlessness,incessantwarandunspeakabledepravity.AttheheartoftheworldorderwastheVatican,thearbiterofconflictsbetweenkingdomsandempires.AndatthecenteroftheVaticanwasamanwhosequestforpowerwouldpropelhimtoseektheultimateprize,theholyseeofRome.Hewasamanwhosenamewouldbecomesynonymouswithruthlessness,andwhosereignaspopewouldberememberedasthemostinfamouschapterofthehistoryoftheCatholicchurch-RodrigoBorgia.Hisfourchildren-Juan,theoldest,aprideful,lazy,unscrupuloussexualpredator,Cesare,ayoungmantornbetweenafaiththatwasnothiscallingandhisdarkviolentnature,Lucretia,ayounggirldiscoveringthesecretpowerthatawomen’ssexualityholds...