Book Club

Join us on December 1, at 6:30 pm with the author, Alyssa Palombo, to discuss the book The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence: A Story of Botticelli.

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About the Author

My name is Alyssa Palombo, and I am a writer living and working in Buffalo, NY. I attended Canisius College in Buffalo, where I majored in English and creative writing with a minor in music. I’m a classically trained mezzo-soprano who also dabbles in playing piano. When not writing, I can usually be found reading, hanging out, and laughing way too hard at nonsensical inside jokes with friends, traveling (or dreaming of my next travel destination), or at a concert. My novels are THE VIOLINIST OF VENICE, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN FLORENCE, THE SPELLBOOK OF KATRINA VAN TASSEL, and THE BORGIA CONFESSIONS.

About the Book

"In the tradition of Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, Palombo has married fine art with romantic historical fiction in this lush and sensual interpretation of Medici Florence, artist Sandro Botticelli, and the muse that inspired them all." - Booklist

A girl as beautiful as Simonetta Cattaneo never wants marriage proposals in 15th Century Italy, but she jumps at the chance to marry Marco Vespucci. Marco is young, handsome, and well-educated. Not to mention he is one of the powerful Medici family’s favored circle.

Even before her marriage with Marco is set, Simonetta is swept up into Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici’s glittering circle of politicians, poets, artists, and philosophers. The men of Florence―most notably the rakish Giuliano de’ Medici―become enthralled with her beauty. She is educated, and an ardent reader of poetry makes her more desirable and fashionable. But her acquaintance with a young painter, Sandro Botticelli, strikes her heart most. Botticelli immediately invites Simonetta, newly proclaimed the most beautiful woman in Florence, to pose for him. As Simonetta learns to navigate her marriage, her place in Florentine society, and the politics of beauty and desire, she and Botticelli develop a passionate intimacy that leads to her immortalization in his masterpiece, The Birth of Venus.

Alyssa Palombo’s The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence vividly captures the dangerous allure of the artist and muse bond with candor and unforgettable passion.