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Ascanio Condivi

Ascanio was not exactly an handsome man, he was balding with two big black eyes, a  big belly and a fantastic sense of humor.

Despite the economic difficulties he become a generous man with a noble soul , refractory to envy and hate.

He lived in a medieval village called Ripatransone, for twenty years, he breath fresh air from the Appenines, and from the Adriatic Sea.

This was a perfect combination for the formation of his character, fundamental for his education was the family , he was  sensitized to the love the arts and literatures.

After his 20th birthday, he decided to go to Rome for studying the arts, and for visiting this wonderful city, but in a short period of time, he discovered the hidden face of Rome.

During a cold night he decided to drink a couple glasses of red wine in a famous winery, closed to the colosseum.

Being a shy person, he decided to drink more glasses of wine due to an infatuation for  a prosperous woman seated in front of him, his purpose was to implement a discussion about Rome and culture in general.

Suddenly he realized that woman was not interested, she left the winery and Ascanio wept.

On his left shoulder he felt a warm hand and a soft voice “She was not interested about culture is not she?”.

“Thank you sir”
“Sorry for my sarcasm - Speak to me if you want”
“Most probably that woman did not noticed me due to my shyness” -
“ I tried to change my nature drinking wine, but I failed”
The mysterious man asked to Ascanio some detail of his life and he said that he never fight against another man, because his weapon was a pen.
Michelangelo was impressed by his phrase and decided to dig more profoundly inside the soul of his new friend.

The apex of their friendship  become real when Michelangelo proposed to Ascanio  to take some notes of his life for a future biography.

Now Ascanio was the true biographer of the father of the Sistine Chapel.

The Florentine, Giorgio Vasari  was a famous painter, architect and artist,  he decided  to write another biography on Michelangelo.

The authorized biography described his geniality and altruism, but the version of the Vasari was completely different.

The second biography was the essence of a man devoured by envy and anger, he never accepted that a man from a little village was the first biographer of Michelangelo, he used his pen for convey his frustrations.

This was the cause of an epistolary war between the two biographers both proud of themselves.

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