How did the sister of Machiavelli's prince get so wealthy during an economic downturn

[giovonni]

Renaissance capitalist: New research answers mystery
about illegitimate daughter of pope.


How did the sister of Machiavelli's prince get so wealthy during an economic downturn?
In popular legend, Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara (1480- 1519), stands falsely
accused of poisoning her second husband. Victor Hugo portrayed her in thinly veiled fiction
as a tragic femme fatale. Buffalo Bill named his gun after her.

But new research by USC historian Diane Yvonne Ghirardo reveals that the only sister
of Machiavelli's Prince was less interested in political intrigue than in running a business,
undertaking massive land development projects that "stand alone
in the panorama of early sixteenth-century projects, not only those initiated by women," Ghirardo says.

read more here;
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-rcn010709.php