33 pages • 1 hour read
Gene A. BruckerGiovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1986A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Many witnesses testify that Giovanni and Lusanna acted “as lovers are wont to do” (77). How does their society perceive romantic love, and how do Giovanni and Lusanna abide by, or reject, these perceptions? What makes their relationship unique for its time?
How do 15th-century gender roles structure the lives of Giovanni and Lusanna? How are Lusanna’s actions throughout her relationship with Giovanni reactions to these gender roles?
Brucker describes his book as a microhistory, which focus on the lives of individuals rather than the actions of governments. Why would a historian choose to write a microhistory? What does a microhistory allow us to learn about a specific society that a more traditional history does not?
Giovanni and Lusanna is mostly constructed through the records of Ser Filippo Mazzei, the notary assigned to follow Giovanni and Lusanna’s trial. How does the archive shape the kind of history that Brucker is able to write about Giovanni and Lusanna? What pieces of historical information does the archive omit?
Giovanni and Lusanna belong to two very different social classes. Giovanni hails from an aristocratic family of notaries and merchants, while Lusanna is the daughter of a tailor. How do Giovanni’s and Lusanna’s different social backgrounds influence their lives, their relationship, and their choices?
Throughout Giovanni and Lusanna, Brucker frequently evaluates evidence to decide what is true and what is false about Giovanni and Lusanna’s relationship. Do you agree with Brucker’s method for determining which evidence is true and which is false? Why or why not?
A recurring theme in Giovanni and Lusanna is the societal limitation placed upon women. Lusanna frequently encounters judgement from her community for attempting to become independent. How have societal ideas about femininity changed since Lusanna’s time? What stereotypes or ideas about gender still persist?
Giovanni and Lusanna is illustrated with many fifteenth-century, artistic depictions of Florentine life. Analyze three of the images and explain what they reveal about life in Florence during the fifteenth century. How do the illustrations match the story of Giovanni and Lusanna, and how do they differ?
Brucker’s microhistory is mostly based on his research of the archives of the notary Ser Filippo Mazzei. How might Brucker’s account of Giovanni and Lusanna’s story alter if he used a first-hand archival source, such as Lusanna’s diary or Giovanni’s personal correspondence? What are the advantages and disadvantages of first-hand and second-hand archival sources?
Brucker writes that Lusanna’s actions are often puzzling, explaining that her personality is “at times aggressive, willful, and manipulative; at other times, docile and passive” (92). Ultimately, Brucker concludes that Lusanna’s actions must be understood as “one woman’s struggle to gain a measure of personal independence in a male-dominated world” (93). Do you agree with Brucker’s characterization of Lusanna?
