Celebrated Crimes

On his deathbed, Lorenzo the Magnificent asks whether God will forgive him. Savonarola names his crimes—and makes absolution depend on a price Lorenzo cannot bear to pay: Florence’s freedom.

Florence, 1492: as Lorenzo’s friends gather around his sickbed, the austere preacher Savonarola arrives to hear his confession. In Celebrated Crimes, Alexandre Dumas turns notorious episodes from history into charged confrontations between private desire and public power. Here, Lorenzo hopes to meet death forgiven, but Savonarola insists that mercy requires more than faith: the ruler must return what he has taken and restore the republic’s independence. The fate of Lorenzo’s soul and Florence’s liberty hang on a single answer. Can he surrender the power that has defined his life?

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