rotting underfoot like a patch of autumn leaves in the damp shadow
of an ancient chestnut tree. The smell of decay is omnipresent and
the silent streets and deserted squares have no cheering effect upon
the priest. Death stalks this city, and not even the most convinced
optimist can avoid recognising that this is the end of the road for
the Medici dynasty. Ferdinado, eldest son of Cosimo, has been dead
five years. He was quickly followed to the grave by his uncle,
Cosimo’s brother Francesco Mario. Cosimo, aged and embittered,
has long relinquished any hope of an heir, for the malfunctioning
marriage and bizarre lifestyle led by his youngest son Gian Gastone
will certainly produce no children. A highly divisive and spectacular
change to the law has allowed Cosimo’s widowed only daughter
Anna Maria to assume the title of Grand Duchess and heir to the
Medici household. This has caused uproar among such great
powers as Spain, France and Austria, and these nations now prowl
like wolves around the city, slavering to get their hands on it.
But not everyone shares the sombre outlook. Some continue to see
a positive future and, avoiding politics and speculation, apply
themselves happily to the tasks of each new day, coping with the
problems along the way. This goes too for the members of the
Accademia degli Immobili whose job it is to reinvigorate the old Teatro
della Pergola. Here it is the honour of Antonio Vivaldi at the end of
June 1718 to preside over a performance of Scanderberg before an
enthusiastic audience. For a brief moment Florence regains her old
sparkle.
With Scanderberg over and done with, father and son Vivaldi have no
further reason to stay on in the city. Antonio has not yet had time
to settle in Mantua and Giambattista has his head full of all the
work piling up back home in Venice. So, another success to their
name, their carriage leaves Florence, the horses heading bravely for
the hills.
It is by now the height of summer and the many-plumed
rushes crowding the muddy banks of the Mincio wave lazily back
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