Jews and Magic in Medici Florence: The Secret World of Benedetto Blanis (Toronto Italian Studies) - Tapa dura

'Goldberg has sifted the correspondence between Blanis and Don Giovanni, rich with two hundred letters, plus other archival sources, in order to deduce a new image of Counter Reformation Tuscany.' -- Giulio Busi Il Sole 24 Ore, 16 October 2011 ' Never a dull read, this book provides fine background to the Jews of that region... Recommended for college libraries with Jewish or European history collections.' -- Hallie Cantor Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter vol 02:01:2012 'Edward Goldberg's fascinating and compulsively readable study of Benedetto Blains, is all the more remarkable for the vividness with which he is able to reconstitute the life and thought of this ambitious and troubled man.' -- Michael Keefer Renaissance and Reformation vol 37:01:2014 'These are two fascinating books... Edward Goldberg presents us with an excellent edition of the letters of Blains and a monograph on this enigmatic Jew... the two books are a treasure trove of knowledge and details as well as a look into the fascinating era of the late Renaissance and the dei Medici period.' -- Giuseppe Veltri Renaissance Quarterly vol 67:03:2014

In the seventeenth century, Florence was the splendid capital of the Medici Grand Dukedom of Tuscany. Meanwhile, the Jews in its tiny Ghetto struggled to earn a living by any possible means, especially loan-sharking, rag-picking and second-hand dealing. They were viewed as an uncanny people with rare supernatural powers, and Benedetto Blanis-a businessman and aspiring scholar from a distinguished Ghetto dynasty-sought to parlay his alleged mastery of astrology, alchemy and Kabbalah into a grand position at the Medici Court. He won the patronage of Don Giovanni dei Medici, a scion of the ruling family, and for six tumultuous years their lives were inextricably linked. Edward Goldberg reveals the dramas of daily life behind the scenes in the Pitti Palace and in the narrow byways of the Florentine Ghetto, using thousands of new documents from the Medici Granducal Archive. He shows that truth-especially historical truth-can be stranger than fiction, when viewed through the eyes of the people most immediately involved.