The Chilling True Story of a Royal Scandal, a Love Erased

Amalfi's Darkest Legend: The Duchess, Her Lover, and Her Brother. Could This Love Story Be More Tragic Than Romeo and Juliet?

Today, we return once again to the Amalfi Coast, and I will tell you about the terrible fate of a real, beautiful princess. I don't know; maybe she wasn't that beautiful, honestly. History has left us no portrait of her, but it doesn't matter. It's just the genre that obliges. Her name was Joanna.

Joanna was the niece of King Ferrante I of Naples. She was born and raised in the splendor and scandalous freedoms of the Neapolitan court. In 1497, she had to marry Don Alfonso Todeschini Piccolomini, the second Duke of Amalfi.

Me: “Imagine her, barely twenty, stepping into a world of silk gowns and whispered secrets…

”Joanna (thinking):“Naples… the music, the laughter, the freedom to choose my embroidery thread! Now… Amalfi. Stone walls and disapproving stares.”

Her happiness was short-lived.

Me: “Just a year. Can you believe it? A year of being a Duchess…”

Joanna (to her ladies):“Tell me again how fortunate I am. Remind me how many women would kill for this title.”In 1498, she was a widow.

Continue Reading: https://exegi.substack.com/p/the-chilling-true-story-of-a-royal