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Renaissance

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Giovanni and Lusanna The Renaissance is often imagined by many as a magical time. It was a period where the human race produced the most interesting inventions and profound ideals that later became the foundation for the modern culture and government we know today. However, hidden beneath the blanket of magic was a time full of unrest, political corruption, and old traditional ideals that developed into unwritten “rules” forced upon society. Guiding behaviors such as how a “good” wife or a “good” widow should behave, or such “rules” notably broken are prevalent in the famous true story of Giovanni and Lusanna. It is a Renaissance chronicle about a woman who is set out to tell the truth but reveals too much of herself and her rogue ways. Lusanna’s actions questioned the unwritten “rules “of Renaissance society and whether or not enforcing them was right or wrong. Lusanna was a beautiful Florentine woman who was married to an Artisan man named Andrea Nucci of low class Florence. She met and fell in love with Giovanni while she was still married to Andrea Nucci. Giovanni, a noble man of great class and status, loved her as well. He had promised to marry her if her husband were to die. His luck came true and Lusanna’s husband passed away. Giovanni fulfilled his promise and married the widow shortly after the death of her husband. It was a marriage that, before long, turned into political unrest as Giovanni decided to marry another woman. He insisted that he never married Lusanna and that he only considered her his mistress. Lusanna thought otherwise and knew that her marriage was lawful and thus decided to take legal actions in her favor. A legal fight of gender and class ensued. Giovanni blamed Lusanna for being a sexual whore and also created allegations that Lusanna had many sexual relations when she was still married to Andrea

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