Il Grifone e la Mezzaluna
Storia di guerre e passioni nel Mediterraneo
di
Alessandra Oddi Baglioni,
Volumnia,
2009.
Cristianesimo e Islam. Due mondi e due culture
che si affrontano per il controllo dell’Europa. Una storia ambientata nel
Rinascimento ma che richiama i dibattiti di oggi. Sono questi gli ingredienti
del romanzo di Alessandra Oddi Baglioni.
Nel 1570 nell’isola di Cipro, Astorre Baglioni e
Marcantonio Bragadin tengono in scacco per un anno intero il potente Impero
ottomano. L’eroica difesa di Famagosta, unita al sacrificio di Bragadin,
rinsaldano l'alleanza fra la Spagna, Venezia, Genova e tutte le altre
potenze riunite sotto il vessillo della Lega Santa voluta da Pio v. Quella Lega
Santa che, vittoriosa a Lepanto il 17 ottobre 1571, fermerà l'espansione turca
nel Mediterraneo, salvando la civiltà cristiana.
L’io narrante del romanzo è il medaglione al
collo di Astorre, che si fa macchina da presa ed in un racconto tutto
visivo delinea la storia da un inusuale punto di vista.
«In
che cosa un essere umano può rivelarsi diverso dall'altro, se all'esterno hanno
entrambi le stesse sembianze? Due braccia, due gambe, un volto. Perché all'interno
le loro anime debbono essere diverse, assegnate a destini diversi? E chi ha
diritto alla salvezza e chi no, e attraverso quali mezzi? è vero che chi muore
per il vero Dio non muore? Ma allora quale è il vero Dio per cui vale la pena
di immolarsi?»
L'Impero ottomano e la cristianità, Giovanni d'Austria e Lala Mustafa Pascia, Sebastiano Venier, Marcantonio Colonna e Ali Pascia, Ulugh Ali detto "Occhiali", i Cavalieri di Malta e il Papa Pio v: questo è l'ambiente in cui si conquista la fama di invincibile Astorre Baglioni.
L'Impero ottomano e la cristianità, Giovanni d'Austria e Lala Mustafa Pascia, Sebastiano Venier, Marcantonio Colonna e Ali Pascia, Ulugh Ali detto "Occhiali", i Cavalieri di Malta e il Papa Pio v: questo è l'ambiente in cui si conquista la fama di invincibile Astorre Baglioni.
Il
condottiero perugino tiene in scacco a Cipro, per un anno intero, il potente
Impero ottomano. La sua eroica difesa di Famagosta, unita al sacrificio di
Bragadin, rinsalda l'alleanza fra la Spagna, Venezia, Genova e tutte le altre
potenze riunite sotto il vessillo della Lega Santa voluta da Pio v. Quella Lega
Santa che, vittoriosa a Lepanto il 17 ottobre 1571, fermerà l'espansione turca
nel Mediterraneo, salvando la civiltà cristiana.
Nella
narrazione scontri guerreschi e relazioni amorose si susseguono. Tradimenti,
premonizioni e atti di eroismo lasciano scorgere una realtà diversa da quella
tramandata dai testi storici. La raffinata educazione di Astorre gli permette
di comprendere le culture più lontane: per lui una principessa persiana
rinnoverà il dramma di Didone, mentre una donna fiorentina, la sua sposa,
riuscirà a convincere il Papa Pio v, Cosimo de' Medici e ricchi mercanti
olandesi ad armare una flotta in soccorso agli assediati. A lei Astorre si
rivolge nella sua ultima lettera: «Vedermi diviso da voi, mi par d'essere come
giorno senza sole, anzi corpo senza anima, poiché voi e io insieme siamo la
vita di casa nostra... Vi prego, mitigate il tedio del mio stare assente con
l'acquisto dell'onore che, Dio permittente, spero di conseguire nella difesa di
Famagosta.»
The griffon and the crescent
The Griffon and the Crescent is an historical novel taking place in the Sixteenth century, between Italy and the Mediterranean, ending in Cyprus.
Love, passion and politics in the Sixteenth Century Europe.
On the background of the Great War on the Mediterranean to stop the Ottoman invasion, coalitions and plots have been agreed, similar to the contemporary ones. In the past days Europe the same roads as today have been taken. Coalitions have been done and undone following political exigencies, and those openly declared were not necessary the real ones. Sometimes the enemies have proven to be more reliable than the allies.
The narrator copes with two important topics: the defense of the Christendom from the Ottomans and the contacts between the two cultures.
The setting for the story is a plot in which famous monarchs like Charles V or Suleiman the Magnificent alternate with Catholic cultural icons like Pius V, the pope that started the last crusade and set up the cult of Madonna of the Rosary, and Friar Ignatius from Loyola, the creator of the Jesuit order.
Medici Court is depicted during the time of Cosimo the Magnificent, the one who created Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens as well as the rich palaces in Genoa, built with the money obtained on the merchandise coming in by ships from the New World.
Finally the beginning of the fall of beautiful Venice is depicted as the outcome of the fact that the Venetians didn’t understand that the Sixteenth Century began in the shadow of a new continent.
It also makes room for private life stories, and a huge love that pushes a woman to arm a navy in order to save her husband at the command of a group of men blocked on an island like the heroes from Fort Alamo.
The plot goes through the life of Astorre II Baglioni, a heir of a noble Italian family of Perugia, famous for having given birth to controversial personalities: great heroes but also ambitious leaders, ready to do anything in order to reach their targets.
The Astorre’s actions against Persians and Turkish soldiers, took place along the Mediterranean Sea, from Algiers to Cyprus, in the wider context of the conflict between Christians and Ottomans.
During his courageous life, Astorre defeated the famous Pirate Dragout and the Algiers before his heroic end in Famagosta in 1571, one month before the epic Battle of Lepanto. He was resisting the siege of Cyprus, defending the Christianity until the final tragedy, when the Ottomans beheaded him.
The narrator of the novel is the Griffon, a wild bird of the eagle family, symbol of the Baglioni’s noble family of Perugia, which is portrayed inside the medallion hanging at the neck of a young descendent of the family
The griffon and the crescent
The Griffon and the Crescent is an historical novel taking place in the Sixteenth century, between Italy and the Mediterranean, ending in Cyprus.
Love, passion and politics in the Sixteenth Century Europe.
On the background of the Great War on the Mediterranean to stop the Ottoman invasion, coalitions and plots have been agreed, similar to the contemporary ones. In the past days Europe the same roads as today have been taken. Coalitions have been done and undone following political exigencies, and those openly declared were not necessary the real ones. Sometimes the enemies have proven to be more reliable than the allies.
The narrator copes with two important topics: the defense of the Christendom from the Ottomans and the contacts between the two cultures.
The setting for the story is a plot in which famous monarchs like Charles V or Suleiman the Magnificent alternate with Catholic cultural icons like Pius V, the pope that started the last crusade and set up the cult of Madonna of the Rosary, and Friar Ignatius from Loyola, the creator of the Jesuit order.
Medici Court is depicted during the time of Cosimo the Magnificent, the one who created Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens as well as the rich palaces in Genoa, built with the money obtained on the merchandise coming in by ships from the New World.
Finally the beginning of the fall of beautiful Venice is depicted as the outcome of the fact that the Venetians didn’t understand that the Sixteenth Century began in the shadow of a new continent.
It also makes room for private life stories, and a huge love that pushes a woman to arm a navy in order to save her husband at the command of a group of men blocked on an island like the heroes from Fort Alamo.
The plot goes through the life of Astorre II Baglioni, a heir of a noble Italian family of Perugia, famous for having given birth to controversial personalities: great heroes but also ambitious leaders, ready to do anything in order to reach their targets.
The Astorre’s actions against Persians and Turkish soldiers, took place along the Mediterranean Sea, from Algiers to Cyprus, in the wider context of the conflict between Christians and Ottomans.
During his courageous life, Astorre defeated the famous Pirate Dragout and the Algiers before his heroic end in Famagosta in 1571, one month before the epic Battle of Lepanto. He was resisting the siege of Cyprus, defending the Christianity until the final tragedy, when the Ottomans beheaded him.
The narrator of the novel is the Griffon, a wild bird of the eagle family, symbol of the Baglioni’s noble family of Perugia, which is portrayed inside the medallion hanging at the neck of a young descendent of the family
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