Free The Tigress of Forli by Elizabeth Lev

spectacular view of the city. There they stopped at the villa of the cardinal of Urbino. After a sumptuous dinner, Girolamo took Caterina to her chambers and presented her with a magnificent pearl necklace. Pearls were the most prized jewels of the Renaissance. The matching spheres of unblemished white were symbols of perfection and purity. The finest oyster beds lay in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, both dominated by hostile Turkish fleets, which made obtaining the "Queen of Gems" extremely difficult. Girolamo's gift was probably meant as a token of apology for his long and silent absence. He did not, however, spend the night with his wife. He had been expressly ordered by the pope to return to the papal apartments that same evening. This time he was under instructions from his uncle to wait until the union had been formally blessed.
    The next morning the sun rose on Pentecost Sunday, one of the most glorious holidays of the year. While the Romans were donning their best clothes and adornments to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church, Caterina was readying herself to see the Eternal City for the first time. Her slender frame was enveloped in a mantle of gold brocade and dark silk, which opened to reveal a voluminous crimson skirt. Her sleeves picked up the motif of the brocade, and sapphires, emeralds, and rubies from distant India, cut into myriad shapes and sizes, hung from her neck and bedecked her graceful fingers. These trappings were so heavy that they slowed her pace. In truth, the gem-encrusted costume was designed less for flattering the female form than for displaying the combined wealth of the Sforza and Riario families.
    At the Roman gates, an astounding sight awaited her. Six thousand horsemen appeared from all sides and fell in with Caterina as she made her way to Saint Peter's Basilica. She was shown to a place of honor there as the pope entered in procession with the College of Cardinals to celebrate the solemn Mass of Pentecost, which lasted a full three hours. Afterward, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, back in papal favor, and Count Girolamo conducted Caterina, Gian Luigi Bossi, and the dignitaries of her escort to Sixtus. Meeting the Vicar of Christ for the first time, Caterina did as she had been taught to do: she knelt before him and kissed the toe of his red velvet slipper. The other dignitaries followed suit, and Gian Luigi Bossi launched into a long, elegant, well-prepared speech bearing the greetings of the duke of Milan and extolling the virtues and modesty of Caterina. He spoke passionately and eloquently. The delighted pope honored Bossi with knighthood on the spot.
    But Sixtus had a more important task at hand. He commanded that Girolamo and Caterina be brought before him and that their marriage ceremony be repeated. No hasty consummation after a financial contract, no ceremony by proxy here: what the pope joined together, no one could cut asunder. The pontiff then presented a gift of his own to the bride. He removed the pearl necklace given to her by Girolamo the evening before and replaced it with another considerably more precious one, with larger, perfectly round pearls of the purest white from his own treasury at the Castel Sant'Angelo.
    On being presented to the College of Cardinals, Caterina kissed each eminent hand dutifully, as she had been instructed. The newlyweds then took their leave of the papal court and started off to their new home in Campo dei Fiori. The short trip across the river took the couple through streets rendered fragrant with incense and embellished with bright cloth and floral arrangements bearing the coats of arms of the pope, the Sforzas, and the Riarios.
    Nothing that Caterina had seen in Florence or Milan prepared her for the vastness and splendor of her new residence in Rome. At the heart of the palace was a large courtyard hung with festive tapestries for the arrival of the new inhabitants. Dozens of superbly decorated rooms looked