Power, Persecution, and Art: A Review of Phil Melanson's "Florenzer"
Phil Melanson's debut novel, Florenzer, strips away the burnished glow of Renaissance myth, revealing the true pigments, delicate brushstrokes, and shifting shades of power that shaped 15th-century Florence. Through three perspectives—Lorenzo de' Medici's management of political leadership, Francesco Salviati's pursuit of advancement within the Vatican, and Leonardo da Vinci's quest for artistic truth—the novel examines survival in a system of unstable alliances and carefully managed appearances. The political relationships between Florence, Rome, Milan, Naples, and Venice require careful language and flattery when dealing with papal authority or rival rulers, creating what Lorenzo calls a "game of pretend."
The beating heart of this narrative isn't Renaissance splendor but the criminalization of homosexuality. Florence's judicial persecution of same-sex relationships becomes a political weapon, with hundreds convicted yearly. Melanson explores this through Leonardo da Vinci's relationships drawn from historical records. These unfold under constant threat from informants, the Officers of the Night, and a civic apparatus where "anyone can drop an accusation" into denunciation boxes. These scenes, which include candid portrayals of sexual intimacy, underscore physical danger, not for shock value, but to reveal how queerness was harnessed as a tool of control.
Melanson bases his work on meticulous historical research. Drawing from Florentine judicial archives, he shows power operating beyond formal institutions—in private bedrooms and anonymous denunciation boxes, through banking ledgers and papal decrees. In Florence, we witness Lorenzo navigating the Signoria's republican resistance to his authority while grappling with the Pazzi Bank's challenge to Medici financial dominance. In Rome, Salviati moves through a Vatican where advancement requires pious performance and ruthless calculation. The novel presents Lorenzo's calculated inconsistency, enforcing moral laws when politically expedient, undermining them when personally necessary, not as hypocrisy to condemn, but as the inevitable condition of maintaining authority in a system built on contradictions.
Melanson places his story within the turbulent political web of competing Italian states, where shifting alliances, banking rivalries, and papal ambitions determine public fortunes and private fates. From the opening scene, the aftermath of Cosimo de' Medici's death, leaving Florence nominally a republic yet practically adrift, the novel explores how power is claimed, maintained, and challenged across different spheres of Renaissance society. Lorenzo grapples with the paradox of republican governance and de facto rule, Salviati maneuvers through Vatican intrigues, and Leonardo confronts the limitations imposed on artistic vision by patronage and societal constraints. Historical events like the Volterra alum mine dispute reveal how economic interests drive political decisions, with Lorenzo framing military action as necessary to preserve Florence's reputation among rival states.
The novel tracks Lorenzo's political maturation from defensive protector of Medici interests to shrewd cultivator of lasting influence. A speculative journey, acknowledged in the historical note as intentional invention, dramatizes a more profound truth: legacy is constructed under duress, rarely without compromise. The novel suggests the Renaissance wasn't merely a cultural awakening but a period when power learned to disguise itself as virtue, and virtue to pose as permanence.
Melanson's approach of weaving papal politics, financial intrigue, and artistic innovation directly into his characters' inner lives transcends lesser historical fiction. The three perspectives offer different facets of Renaissance society: political calculation, religious ambition, and artistic struggle. The result is a world where threats accumulate steadily, and political, spiritual, or creative survival depends as much on performance as on conviction. This depth of perspective is matched by Melanson's control over form and style.
Melanson's prose balances density with momentum, shaped by a visual sensibility reflecting his film and marketing background. His sentences carry a rhythm that feels deliberate without being overly ornamental, often layering sensory detail with political or emotional undercurrents. This density sometimes demands patient reading, particularly in passages exploring the intricacies of banking rivalries or Vatican politics. Importantly, Melanson resists the temptation to tidy his narrative arcs. The result is a novel that favors resonance over resolution, offering a literary experience that is as structurally ambitious as it is emotionally precise.
Melanson has crafted a historical novel with edges that cut. It neither flatters its subjects nor contorts itself to please modern sensibilities. Instead, it insists history remains a contested field of memory, image, and survival, and that those who endure its crucible rarely emerge without scars. With the analytical precision of Leonardo's anatomical studies, Florenzer lays bare Renaissance Florence, revealing power, desire, and survival as the sinews of its society.
This review is based on an advance reader copy provided by NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company - Liveright. Florenzer is scheduled for release on June 10, 2025.