On the morning of May 1501, a horseman was riding along the Florentine road leading to the City of Cities... Imagine Don Quixote at the age of twenty-four, Don Quixote without armor, without armor and legguards, his camisole was darned more than once, and on his suede boots there were some -where the patches are visible. But the rider looks proud: a thin mustache curled upward, lively eyes and an expression of simple-minded gaiety radiating on his face are integral signs by which one can immediately identify a Gascon or a Parisian whose parents were from Gascony. A worthy fellow countryman of Dumas’s heroes, the fearless Chevalier de Ragasten arrives in Rome, a sunny city shackled by an icy, almost mystical horror. Three idols reign here, three pillars of power - despotism, cruelty and cunning. Rodrigo is responsible for the first, Cesare is famous for the second, and the third is the lot of Lucrezia. They are all from the Borgia family. Their time is one of the most terrible and brightest pages of Italian history. This is the era of fire and sword in the name of the future state, this is the era of brilliant scientists, artists and philosophers, this is the era of the Renaissance. Michel Zevako's novel "Borgia" is published in Russian for the first time.