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At the end of the 15th century, Italy did not exist as a state.
Families ruled the different provinces,
maintaining an uneasy balance between themselves.
In the shadow of France and Spain,
the Vatican's influence was decisive in the order of the Christian world.
The Duke of Valentinois!
Holiness,
I offer you my sword and my faith in defense of the Mother Church.
Join our forces with the Spanish
in the war against the French and...
return.
Return with trophies and glory,
as you have always done.
So be it.
Holiness.
When we left Rome, emissaries were sent to the different commands.
Is that not so?
To each and every one.
- What did the order say? - Castelnuovo.
Castelnuovo?
Where are the men?
Where are the arms?
Where is the army that should have been waiting here, and isn't?
And Miguel Corella?
Duke of Valentinois,
I arrest you for the murder of your brother, Juan Borgia,
Duke of Gandia.
Who are you? On whose authority do you act?
I am Gonzalo de Córdoba, acting on orders from my sovereigns,
Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon,
and the request of Pope Julius Il.
I am the Captain General of the Vatican army!
You will be taken to Spain and imprisoned.
Arrest him!
This is absurd.
This is totally absurd!
Whoever is responsible will pay, and so will you!
And your people too!
Let go of me!
Tell whoever has ordered this that I won't be here for long.
You hear?
You can watch day and night.
I'll cut off your heads and send them to your children!
I am Cesare Borgia!
No one will prevent me from ruling in Italy!
I am Cesare Borgia!
You hear?
THE BORGIAS
ROME, 12 YEARS EARLIER
It's the Borgias.
Come on.
Come on, hurry!
Come on.
We'll go through San Ignacio Square.
- It's the Orsinis' quarter. - We can say hello to them.
We have to get on with the other Roman families, Jofré.
Well, what a surprise! The Valencians have forgotten their way home.
But why am I surprised?
What are swine like the Borgias doing in Rome?
It's not the place for them.
If you're looking for your father, follow the smell.
Ignore him, Cesare.
What is it, Paolo?
Afraid your women will notice the smell of a male for once?
Male?
All I smell here is ox, like the one
on your coat of arms. But I don't know if it's male.
Ask your sister.
Bastard!
Cesare, no!
Not today.
CardinalZivo.
Rodrigo Borgia.
CardinalAscanio Sforza.
Rodrigo Borgia.
Cardinal Giovanni Colonna.
Rodrigo Borgia.
Cardinal Raffaele Riario.
Cardinal Giovanni di Medici.
Cardinal Michele.
Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini.
Cardinal Gianbattista Orsini.
Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere.
Cardinal Della Rovere, your vote.
Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere, your vote.
Rodrigo Borgia.
Habemus papam!
Long live Alexander VI!
Long live Rodrigo Borgia!
Today, yes, Juan.
Juan,
I am the Pontiff's secretary. After attending to their eminences,
His Holiness wishes to see all his children in private.
I'll get Lucrezia.
A palace for me, mother! I can't believe it.
Your father has always loved us.
Now that he has achieved what he always desired,
- he'll give each of us the best. - The best?
I don't know for whom.
He's going to make me a cardinal.
You, a cardinal?
Yes. Of Valencia, I think.
- Do you know what that means? - Hurry up.
Cardinal!
You'll be a handsome cardinal! Let me hug you.
Lucrezia, come here, you're spilling all the water!
We'll never finish.
My children!
Pontifex sum.
I am Pope!
Juan!
There are great things ahead of us.
Jofré!
I'd like you to meet Cardinal Ascanio Sforza.
Cardinal, these are two of my three sons.
The Cardinal's help
was decisive in getting your father elected as Pope.
Always at the service of Our Mother Church.
Of course.
Holiness.
Gentlemen.
I had to name him vice chancellor
and grant him the city of Nepi to get his support.
Come! Come, my little one!
Father!
Come here.
I knew God had chosen me the day I saw your face.
You get prettier every day.
Cesare.
It's not that, Rodrigo, I mean, Holiness.
It's the procedure.
You've been vice chancellor, you know that audiences...
Precisely. I know better than you.
And if the Pontiff wants to hold audiences in his own rooms,
he'll have a good reason, won't he?
The protocol...
I decide the protocol. I decide everything.
We won't spend the next years discussing everything, Burkard.
And Giulia Farnese is to have access to my rooms when I so wish.
- Eminence... - Holiness.
Holiness, prudence is...
Other Popes have had women in their beds
and we've seen it. Prudence!
I am Alexander VI.
Let others be prudent.
Red and yellow.
Our colors.
Even the sky wants to honor the Borgias.
A new era is starting for our family today.
An era that your father has awaited
for thirty years,
since Calixtus Ill, my uncle and Pope at that time,
brought me from Xativa.
Since I became cardinal,
secretary,
vice chancellor.
Since our enemies
treacherously killed my poor brother, Pedro Juan.
Thirty years during which I have been learning
and waiting to be
what I am today.
And now,
Rome will know the glory of the Borgias.
I'll be delighted to help crush the arrogance of the Roman families.
No, Cesare.
We won't be content with mere revenge.
It was hard to prevent them
- expelling us from Rome. - Rome?
Rome will belong to the Borgias.
The Orsinis, Caetanis, Colonnas...
All those families who repudiated us for being foreigners
will have to bow down and respect us, children.
Respect us.
Because the Lord,
who decides all,
has put His power in our hands.
We are
law, justice,
order.
We will not let crimes like robbery, murder,
non-payment of tributes, heresy,
sedition, witchcraft, adultery,
continue to sully the name of this holy city
which has to be a model for the rest of Christianity.
And then,
we'll change the course of history.
Those who use the Church's power to feed their own interests,
dictating laws that benefit only them,
will taste the flavor of the Lord's justice
and will never again hold those positions
from which they ignored Christian morality, the people's hunger
and the security of our lands.
The Borgias will be a scaffold for the greedy, the corrupt,
the traitors,
and the privileges of certain cardinals, noblemen and landowners
will be revised and their excesses curtailed.
What are you doing?
Is this how you use the money you steal from the Vatican, Colonna?
I have never stolen. Who said that?
Everyone, Colonna.
Matthew says in the Gospel
that if your hand is the cause of sin, cut it off.
Alexander VI is not the messenger of God, but of Satan.
He is the God of money.
He is Lucifer.
He is the Anti-Christ!
Those who believe they are truer than we are
will understand that the word of the Lord has one legitimate voice,
the Borgias.
TWO YEARS LATER
Excellent work, maestro.
I am truly amazed.
It has a beauty that almost equals that of the model.
May I see it?
- May she? - Of course, Holiness.
See how much the Pontiff loves you?
Are you happy now, little Giulia?
Only if you give me a kiss.
You'll remember my brother Alessandro, won't you?
Giulia, Giulia,
you never stop.
His Eminence, Cardinal Cesare Borgia!
Giulia.
Hello, Cesare.
Cesare, look at this marvel.
I've had her painted as Our Lady.
With this picture, I can adore
sacred love and profane love at the same time.
Do you like it?
Our maestro will do others with images of all the family.
They're starting a Resurrection in which I appear.
And another where you, as cardinal, will have an important place.
And that isn't all.
Follow me, Cesare!
I've known stubborn people, people unable to appreciate
the unmerited gifts life has given them,
but you still surprise me. You don't appreciate what you have.
Listen,
can you imagine the wealth and power you will have
as a cardinal?
I'm not made for prayer, father.
I don't want to spend my life in these rooms.
Giulia is torturing me
to make a cardinal of her useless brother, Alessandro Farnese,
and you, my son, reject it.
Yes, I am your son,
but I'm the first born.
Precisely, Cesare.
You will learn that it is here,
between these walls, that great fortunes are built,
and it is from these rooms which you detest
that Rome is ruled. Rome and all the Christian world.
You are mistaken to think you count for less than the others.
I have great plans
for each one of you.
Holiness, the Duke of Gandia is here.
Juan!
In the north, the land is controlled by the Sforzas of Ludovic the Moor.
In the south, the blue of the Aragonese of Naples.
And in between, Rome.
That is, us.
We must make alliances that will ensure our position.
Alone, we are nothing.
Juan, your marriage to the Duchess of Gandia
has won us friendship with Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon,
even if they keep begging.
They want the Portuguese share of the New World, but
they'll always need the Papal Bull.
And we are going to marry off Lucrezia
to one of the Sforzas of Milan.
- Who is he? - Giovanni.
Giovanni Sforza?
He is half a bastard.
He is no one.
He pays tribute to the Church
and is a nephew of Ludovic the Moor. I ask no more of him.
And for Naples, father?
For Naples, Sancha of Aragon, daughter of Alfonso.
An illegitimate daughter,
but she is one of the most beautiful and exuberant women in Naples.
- We'll marry our Jofré to her. - Thank you, father.
And I? Do I stay here in the Vatican?
You'll obey your father like a good son,
and your Pontiff like a good Christian.
Cesare, if you have anything against me, say it,
but I've got nothing to do with your father's decisions.
Very well, Miguel. Thank you.
What's wrong?
Are you angry with me?
I'm angry with
- life. - Why?
Because our father hasn't found you a wife?
No, because I'm not made to be a cardinal,
while Juan is Duke of Gandia, a father and a captain.
You have to be obedient.
Our father knows what is good for the family.
Stop it, Lucrezia.
Aren't you my little brother anymore? Cesare!
Leave me alone!
Cesare!
Our father did well to put you in a habit!
To my sister Lucrezia's happiness
and to the Borgias!
To the Borgias!
Let us also drink
to the family that has taken us to its bosom,
in the hope that our bloods
may merge in one.
To the Sforza family!
Brother-in-law,
I advise you to care for her.
Remember, your wife has three brothers.
Who is that wonder?
Sancha of Aragon, and her brother Alfonso.
That's Sancha of Aragon?
Juan...
- She's going to be Jofré's wife. - Yes, I know.
Jofré is fortunate.
Let's hope he keeps that royal female where no man can look at her,
because if a man sees her, he's lost.
Brothers, I want you to meet my future wife
and your future sister-in-law, Sancha of Aragon.
Cesare and Juan Borgia.
My lady,
it is a pleasure.
Aren't you two dancing?
I can barely stand up.
That's a scandal.
We'll remedy it immediately.
Will you accompany me?
You'll start with Bracciano castle.
Virginio Orsini has retreated there.
He is your first objective.
Captain Guidobaldo di Montefeltro,
I am sure your experience will be very valuable
in advising our beloved son, Juan, Captain General of the Vatican army
which will have to lead us to victory. And you, Juan,
go with our blessing
and remind the Orsinis
that they owe obedience to the Supreme Pontiff Alexander VI
and that he will never allow
opposition to the law imposed by the Holy Mother Church.
A body like that is not made for prayer and fasting.
It's a pity.
If your father hadn't dedicated you to an ecclesiastic career,
perhaps I would be married to you instead of to your brother Jofré.
He is never to find out.
That is my wish too.
In any case, no one is forcing you to cuckold him.
Tell me, Cesare.
It is hinted that you and your father share your sister Lucrezia's bed.
Never say that again.
Is that clear?
Never say it again.
Never again.
Let's go!
No one could foresee that instead of going to the castle
Vitellozzo would attack our camp.
It's senseless. Even Guidobaldo never imagined it.
We couldn't react.
It was butchery.
And Guidobaldo di Montefeltro was taken prisoner?
Yes, that's what I said.
Prison-er.
Stop writing!
Pardon?
Put down that damn quill!
Do we have to live with a raven that spies on our every breath
and records everything in his damn registers?
We know he's a prisoner.
The news doesn't need Abbot Burkard's quill to fly.
That's enough.
One defeat means nothing.
We'll get our own back.
Meanwhile, we'll pay the ransom Orsini demands.
For Guidobaldo?
It's 3,000 ducats.
His family is rich, they can pay it.
Wasn't he the expert?
No, Juan.
Whoever betrays us, pays,
but whoever is our friend must know he can count on us.
I'll go.
The Orsinis and the Borgias should agree, and avoid useless disputes.
Useless and dangerous.
I heard that your brother Juan was wounded.
Wounds can be cured, eminence. Death is the only certainty.
You are right, cardinal,
but that is no reason to hasten our encounter with it.
Often it is not for us to decide.
True.
Cesare,
shall I do it?
No, you'll do as I say, how I say.
Wait for me in the kitchen.
How will you dissolve this marriage?
I don't want to be widowed so young.
It's the safest way.
And you won't be alone for long.
Of course.
I'm such a fool.
Otherwise, why such concern about my conjugal happiness?
- Lucrezia... - No!
You must talk to our father again and say I don't want to.
Or else I'll go. I'm sure I can convince him.
You can't do that. He doesn't know I'm here.
I thought you'd understand.
Giovanni Sforza will never support our cause in Naples.
He isn't the right husband for the family.
No, Cesare.
It's not that.
You hate him.
Yes, you!
You could never stand him.
No one could.
Not even you.
Jofré!
What are you doing, son?
You're drunk.
Of course I'm drunk.
It's what I do well.
I don't like you talking like that.
Cesare, tell our mother what you all think of me.
That I'm good for nothing,
not even to be the husband of that whore!
That's enough.
She's not here, is she?
No, she's not here.
She'll be looking for something better than a Borgia.
People don't like the Borgias.
- Everyone hates us. - I said, that's enough.
Of course, eminence.
Pontifical cardinal.
By the way,
they say you share your sister with...
I said, enough!
Things aren't solved that way, Jofré.
You must stop drinking.
Thank you, mother, I'm better now.
Don't confuse love
with matrimony.
Well,
where did you hear all that?
Everyone says it,
- in all the gossip shops in Rome. - Rome?
They just sow poison around the name of Borgia.
It's lies.
Lies?
They say Sancha is sleeping with Juan.
Don't listen to them.
Lies?
Have you seen how she flaunts herself?
Jofré, Sancha is
a woman.
What do you mean? Am I not man enough for her?
I mean she has got sin written on her flesh
and that doesn't depend on you.
You're talking like a cardinal.
One day I'll confess my sins to you,
the ones that are stuck to my skin. Let me be a Borgia in that, at least.
My prey!
No, leave me alone.
I'll leave you naked!
Stop it!
What's wrong?
We have to talk.
We'll talk afterwards.
What are you doing?
You have to go away.
But, where? Why?
They're going to kill you.
You have to help me.
Don't let them kill me.
Help me.
Giulia,
nothing is lovelier than your body between these sheets
but my duties are my bane.
Of course.
Tell me when you want me to come back.
My husband will bring me.
Tomorrow.
Who let that woman come in?
How dare you present yourself here?
Why won't you receive me?
I've done no wrong, Holiness.
You haven't?
You're a married woman.
Where is your husband? I'll tell you where he is.
Hiding among his family,
far from the marriage bed
where he should be until I say otherwise!
I know nothing, I swear.
Are you laughing at me?
Is that it?
Is that what you're doing?
If I deserve to be punished, do it.
Oh, Lucrezia,
you take advantage of how much I love you.
Come here.
Come on.
Come here beside me.
You know, Burkard?
Perhaps
our Lucrezia is right in not wanting to be widowed.
But in that case she'll have to be a virgin again.
Here she is.
So it was true.
I don't know what to do with you.
You don't?
But I don't want to leave these four walls.
What do you think you're doing?
Well,
the cardinal has come to preach a sermon.
What is it?
Are you envious?
Am I going to Hell?
At least in Hell, no one would find out.
Are you going to kill me?
- We're sick of your stupidity. - "We"?
Who is "we"?
The family, Juan.
The family!
Father.
Lucrezia, my child!
- Wait here, Penthesilea. - I will.
You came very quickly.
Good! An obedient daughter.
Come, sit here with your father.
Know what this is?
You're free, my child. Read it.
Giovanni Sforza admitted everything.
Your marriage will be annulled and you can choose a new husband.
What's wrong?
Aren't you happy?
I would be, if I could truly choose my husband.
What are you saying?
You have a duty to fulfill. You are Lucrezia Borgia,
not a peasant who can marry just anyone.
Your life is a matter of state.
Feelings are for the rabble.
We have a destiny.
You don't understand, do you?
I must find a marriage
that will suit the project I have designed for you all.
But until I find it and to avoid gossip,
you should go into the San Sixto Convent.
I won't!
You've made me a virgin again to make me a nun?
It's just for a while,
to show everyone your grief at the annulment of your marriage.
It's all arranged.
True.
It's all arranged.
Everything.
Mr. Perotto
will be at your side while you're a guest of the nuns
on the old Via Appia,
and your maid Penthesilea, of course.
You'll want for nothing and I'll bring you back soon.
Perotto is Spanish, a writer and a poet.
He is an educated man, faithful to us and to our cause.
He'll collect you at your mother's house.
She tried to persuade me against sending you away
but now she, like you, has understood
that a period in retreat means your virginal image
will be accepted by all and sundry.
His Excellency the Captain General of the Army,
Vicar of Viterbo,
Duke of Gandia,
Juan Borgia!
Duke of Gandia, welcome to my home.
Cardinal.
- Thank you for the invitation. - No, I thank you for coming.
Cardinal Riario.
Duke.
Cardinal della Rovere.
Please, Duke, be seated.
A little wine?
I'm delighted to see you,
my lord Duke of Gandia.
I'm sure he's delighted too,
as the last time he saw you
he had his back to you,
which is how one is when one is running away.
Sire,
I don't know you, but I won't permit...
- Gentlemen! - My name is Felipe Brancaccio.
I'm a friend of Giovanni Sforza,
who until a few days ago mounted
your "immaculate virgin sister".
I must admit that
having a father who can put the pieces together again
after he has broken them
isn't bad at all.
Forgive me, Duke,
I don't know what to say.
Say nothing, Cardinal,
or the Duke will go and hide beneath his men's corpses
to save his ass.
Please, Duke, I beg you...
Or will you go and sleep with your sister,
as your father and brother do?
I think his name is Brancaccio.
He's a friend of the Sforzas.
- Did they say anything else? - No, they didn't.
I want you to write the names of all those who were there.
How dare they?
And you, Juan?
Did you say nothing, do nothing?
Did you not react?
I was Cardinal Orsini's guest. What could I do?
What could you do?
They insult your family and you do nothing.
What kind of blood runs in your veins?
Giovanni Sforza wants revenge for the joke we played on him.
Being repudiated isn't agreeable, much less so
if you lose the dowry as well as your wife.
But I'm surprised they wanted to humiliate us like that.
We must think of a response.
There's no time to think.
Cardinal Borgia, welcome.
Are you joining the hunt?
Who is Felipe Brancaccio?
Are you looking for me?
Whoever values his life
should not make a single movement!
Greetings from our holy father, Rodrigo Borgia,
and from his family
who honor him
and love him.
Cesare despises me because he envies me.
He never wanted to be a cardinal.
He tells the four winds that his destiny is the battlefield.
And he could do it better than I.
He wants my position.
He's an obedient son, don't fear him.
I fear no one.
Brancaccio won't speak of the Borgias again.
You've paid little attention to his glances.
- He is anxious to have you. - It's not true.
What do you mean?
I've seen him spying on you.
Either I'm greatly mistaken
or he is dying of love for you.
Well, cardinal,
no red robe tonight?
Not when I go hunting, Juan. You know that.
Hunting?
- I'm going hunting tonight too. - Yes.
Leave some prey for he who has a right to them.
Stop arguing. You don't seem like brothers.
- Behave like the Christians you are. - It's true. Christians.
Just look at the family.
The Borgias are the perfect family.
My father, the Supreme Pontiff.
My mother, a saint.
My brother, a cardinal.
And my sister, shut away in a convent!
What about me?
- What about you? - Yes, me.
Who or what am I?
Sit down and be quiet.
No, I don't want to be quiet.
And I don't want to be told to be quiet.
I'm leaving.
Why?
It doesn't matter if I'm here or not.
Jofré...
Leave him be, mother. He's drunk, like everyone.
Did I say something?
Something I shouldn't have?
If the only joys in life were those given by one's children,
I'd only have grief.
Good night, excuse me.
Shall we go, Cesare?
Alfonso of Aragon isn't just Sancha's sister.
He's a Neapolitan nobleman,
much loved by the King of Naples
who, should he marry our sister, will make him Duke.
Sancha's brother?
It was her idea, wasn't it?
- Whose? - Sancha's.
She convinced you.
No, it was our father's idea.
Let's not fight over her.
Not over Sancha.
Why would I want to?
Come on, Juan.
Are you coming?
Please yourself.
Be careful.
I've got money, arms,
and a name that, thanks to you, scares people.
I have nothing to fear.
Riccio, let's go!
I never know if you're being serious or having fun at my expense.
A little of both.
So you think Lucrezia is prettier than I?
No, it's not that.
I see her in a different way.
- She's my daughter. - I could be, too.
Believe me, I've often thought that.
Holiness!
Burkard,
I hate these apparitions of yours.
They only forebode something sad, terrible or impertinent.
What is it now?
The Duke of Gandia, sire.
Get back!
What a tragedy!
He was here this morning when I came to open the store.
Riccio,
where's Juan?
I did all I could to help him.
I swear, all that I could.
Where's Juan?
Eminence, he's dying.
Where is the Duke?
Miguel!
They found his horse in the Jewish quarter.
One of the stirrups was cut through with a dagger.
Everything shows that it was an ambush.
They are searching all of Rome and the outskirts.
Cesare is organizing it.
God!
My boy!
My poor boy!
God!
If you wanted to punish me,
you could have chosen another way to do it.
Why him?
Why?
Juan!
My boy!
My boy...
Look around the bend, in the bushes.
Corella! He's here!
So many people would have liked to do it.
What I don't understand
is why Rodrigo refuses
to look for the culprit.
Maybe he's found him already.
He is famed for being a determined man
but he is also very prudent.
You must admit that.
It is a curse from God.
For my sins,
the Lord has taken away my boy.
We have to reform the Church,
repent,
ask forgiveness from Our Lord,
and from his Holy Mother.
Without Juan,
everything is over, Cesare.
It is all useless.
Don't talk like that.
Nothing is over.
We can't give in to our enemies.
I'll finish what Juan couldn't do.
They say you killed him.
Do you believe that?
If you do, kill me.
Take away the life you gave me if you do.
Let me do it, father.
Let me do it.
I have had a letter from Cesare too.
He is no longer a cardinal and he's going to France.
I'm going to lose them all.
How can I stop this grief from stealing your soul?
There's no way, my love.
My brother Juan is gone.
He left without saying goodbye to me.
And what he was
only remains in my soul.
If that is the price,
I would die to remain in your heart.
They'll come for me soon.
- What do we care? - Perotto,
didn't you hear what I said?
Yes.
They will never permit this love.
There are things, my angel,
light of my life,
things that in order to be don't need permission.
A YEAR LATER
Cesare!
Well, you were in a hurry to cast off your cardinal's robes.
You can't imagine how much.
We missed you.
We thought you wouldn't come back from France.
What manners, Duke of Valentinois!
When you were cardinal you weren't so impetuous.
They also say that you went away
because it was you who had Juan killed.
What do you think?
I think that the ways of the Lord are unfathomable,
but all lead to the glory of the Borgias.
Is that why His Holiness
wants to marry Lucrezia to my brother Alfonso?
Cesare, think a little.
Things have changed in your absence.
The Spanish monarchs no longer love us, if they ever did.
It is vital that we strengthen our alliances now.
Isn't it enough to have Sancha?
You're not the one who has to marry. Anything else?
Let's continue, Burkard.
Alfonso will be an excellent husband for Lucrezia.
Go to that convent and tell her that her penance is over.
It's harder to govern a family than to govern the Vatican.
That's why I never had one.
What else do we have?
The French ambassador,
the Duke of Urbino,
a group of the faithful from Portugal...
Stop.
Stop, Burkard.
Stop.
- Who is there? - Cesare Borgia.
What do you want?
Your sister has devoted these last weeks to prayer,
penance and solitude.
- I beg you, eminence. - I am no longer a cardinal.
I've got very important news for her. Where is she?
You're profaning a sacred place.
No man should be here, eminence.
I am no longer a cardinal.
Penthesilea!
Sire...
My sister.
In the name of God, don't cause a scandal.
Stand aside.
Lucrezia!
Are you hiding from me now?
Don't make any more mistakes.
I love her, Cesare.
- I accept responsibility. - I'm not the one you must explain to.
Get your mistress ready.
We're going back to Rome.
I know it was a mistake,
but you know well, Holiness,
the strength that love can have and how it blinds us.
Perotto...
You had to look after her.
We placed our trust in you.
You have every reason to be angry
and I know that all my repentance will never be enough
for having betrayed your trust,
but my feelings were sincere, I swear by Our Lord.
We were moved only by love,
not by malice or lust.
Cesare...
I'm your son.
You think, I execute.
Come here, my son.
It is all forgotten, Lucrezia.
It is all forgiven.
But don't do anything else silly.
You have to think of your next husband.
I don't want another husband.
All who come near me seem to be doomed.
That's rubbish!
Stop this useless grief, put on your most elegant clothes.
I want Alfonso of Aragon to be fascinated
by the famous beauty of Lucrezia Borgia.
Father,
I loved him.
A woman may know many men
but she has only one father and one name.
If she loses them, she loses herself.
You are a Borgia.
I don't want to tell you that again.
Where is Penthesilea?
Your maid couldn't bear the shame.
They fished her body out of the Tiber yesterday.
Poor girl.
Remorse killed her.
May the Lord have mercy on her.
First, you said they would soon fall,
but they grow stronger every day
and more despotic.
Now, you ask us to fight under their banner?
What is happening to you all?
Don't you see that the more we feed their power,
the greater we'll make them?
The Orsinis will fight under the Pope's flag,
not that of the Borgias.
The Vatican will be stronger, not they.
It's the same thing.
The Pope is expropriating castles and lands from Roman families
to give them to Cesare.
He even gave Nepi to his whore of a daughter.
I don't think he asks Lucrezia's opinion.
She is just a tool.
That's...!
You too?
What power does she exert over you?
She married her second husband
carrying a servant's baby in her belly,
if it wasn't Cesare's or the Pope's, as many say.
A saint, isn't she?
Lucrezia is the Pope's daughter, daughter-in-law and wife.
I'd strangle Cesare with my own hands
and, like him, I'd have no mercy.
- I don't fear the Borgias. - No?
No!
Then why must we obey them day after day, year after year?
I defeated Juan Borgia
and I can stop that pig Cesare humiliating us.
I!
Such stupidity.
You have to be at the enemy's side.
No other position is so comfortable,
when the time comes to strike the mortal blow.
He's right.
Think, Paolo, think!
Amen.
Leave us.
I had it forged for you.
- "Either Cesare or nothing". - Either Cesare or nothing.
From today, that will be your motto, my son.
Come.
In the Pope's name, you will crush the lords of the center of Italy,
one by one.
I want a kingdom for the Borgias.
It won't be easy. They are strong, they have castles, armies...
Yes,
but they are tyrants.
They detest each other and are detested by their people.
They humiliate and despise their own people.
You'll be received as a liberator.
- Burkard. - Holiness?
No sleeping today.
We have to write to those arrogant princes
and remind them they've never paid their tributes to the Holy See
and that the patience of Alexander VI is at an end.
"By his apostolic powers,"
he declares you deprived of all right and all power
over the domains which the Holy Church
granted to you at one time
"and which now, with the same authority, it takes from you."
It's a declaration of war.
And he's sent it to you, who reigns in Forli and Imola,
like the other lords.
What does His Holiness expect? To be the master of all Italy?
His son.
It's not he but Cesare who wants it.
They say that Alexander VI
has got the King of France to grant him
a noble title.
But his dream is to become Duke of Romagna.
Duke of Romagna...
Those Borgias are ambitious.
Do you know what we'll do, cardinal?
We'll go to their house first
before they come to ours.
Go, Duke of Valentinois,
and submit those who, ignoring our words and our mandates,
turn their backs on the Lord,
whose power will protect you.
Your sister Lucrezia has a gift for you.
This is a copy of Julius Cesar's helmet
when he conquered the world for Rome.
Take it, so it may bring you, beloved brother,
the same honors.
Thank you, Lucrezia,
sister.
Share my fortune and my fate.
And remember that wherever I may be,
a part of this Cesare
will always be yours.
As I also belong to you,
brother.
May Our Lord and His Holy Mother
protect you all on this journey with my beloved son Cesare,
your captain
and Captain General of the Holy Mother Church.
You, the Orsinis, have also given way.
We obey His Holiness,
as you also do, Cardinal Della Rovere,
and, like you, we prefer to wait.
Here is our leader.
Sire.
Sire?
For you, I'll always be Cesare, my friend.
Duke of Valentinois.
Eminence.
I am glad you are leading our men.
No one in Rome has such courage and talent.
I'll pray for your conquests and victories.
I'm fighting only for the Holy Church.
But I'm happy you've decided to be a friend of the Borgias.
I hope God hears your prayers.
Eminence...
He doesn't look like you.
If he did, he would be handsomer.
He'll be intelligent.
Holiness,
two messengers from Countess Caterina Sforza request an audience.
I'm busy, Burkard, can't you see? Take care of it.
I would, happily, and always do when I can,
but this time the gift is not for me.
Very well.
Abbot Burkard does his work very diligently.
He's ingenious and alert,
but he irritates me at times. Excuse me.
Maybe I should change my secretary.
Holiness,
we bring you, on behalf of Countess Caterina Sforza,
a crucifix worked by Forli's master goldsmiths.
It would be an honor if you were to accept it.
The Countess's fame has reached our ears.
They say she moves like the ancient Amazons
and is fierce and pitiless with her enemies.
The Countess is a just lady and defends the Christian faith.
Didn't she avenge her husband's death
by having his assassins killed, and all their families too?
What does such a woman want from us?
She begs that you accept these letters of hers.
They are her concerns
at the advance of the troops
of the Duke of Valentinois, your son, Holiness.
Wait, Holiness!
Don't touch it!
Guards! Quickly!
It's cantarella, Holiness, poison.
Dammed bitch!
You wanted to kill me!
Take them away!
Back, gentlemen.
Where is Cesare?
He's to take his troops to Imola and Forli
and finish off that dammed whore!
Get out!
All of you, get out!
Get out!
Go away!
Can't you hear me? Get out!
Get out!
20,000 ducats for Caterina Sforza!
The whore is mine!
I arrived just in time.
A moment later and they'd have torn you apart like hunting dogs.
You hunt, don't you, Countess?
Who are you?
How dare...
You're the Duke of Valentinois.
So I'm your prisoner.
You should have killed me.
You cost me dear. I want to recoup what I spent on you.
You're no use to me dead.
Shall we go home, Countess?
Cesare, he's your nephew.
When he gets angry, he's got his grandfather's character.
Yes, he's got a Borgia's character.
There, my love.
There, there, my prince,
grandmother's darling. Come along.
And you?
Stop!
What's this?
Look.
Know what it is?
- It's the feather! - Yes.
It's always with me.
Motherhood has made you even prettier.
No, I've got as fat as a barrel, look.
- Yes? - Yes.
Let's see how fat you are!
Stop!
Let go of my wife.
You're talking to me?
Yes, Duke.
I wouldn't like her to get hurt.
Lucrezia is my sister.
I would never let that happen.
I know that.
Everyone knows how much you love her.
Alfonso, Cesare was only joking.
I know, my love.
I didn't mean to get angry.
Lucrezia, I'll see you tonight at the party.
- Yes, of course. - Alfonso.
Duke of Valentinois.
Why did you get like that?
I prefer him far from Rome.
Don't say that.
I don't want you to be enemies.
I love you both.
He hates me.
He hates my family.
Cesare would never harm us.
You should ask your brother Juan.
I won't let you insinuate that it was Cesare.
Why do they think it in France?
Why do the Spanish monarchs think it?
Why does everyone think it,
even here in Rome, even in the Vatican?
It's a lie.
People say those things because no one can defeat us.
So this is your first party in the Borgias' chambers, Nicolas?
Yes.
I confess that it is.
Unforgivable, ambassador. In Rome, it is all the talk.
Come.
Holiness.
Cardinal Della Rovere.
May I introduce you to the ambassador?
Holiness.
Duke of Valentinois.
I come to pay you honor for your conquests.
I thank you, cardinal.
No, I thank you.
Your conquests
are those of everyone.
Countess Sforza, what a surprise!
Join us, Cardinal della Rovere. And you too, ambassador.
Do you like dancing?
It fascinates me.
Especially when it's done so charmingly.
True.
There's nothing closer to God
than beauty.
Bravo!
Lucrezia is lovelier every day.
Why isn't your brother here with her?
I shouldn't have come either.
Now is the time, Cesare.
The Aragons are unnecessary.
Yes, father.
Without them, we are almost Italy now.
Almost.
Now, we have to be a kingdom,
unite Church and State,
make the Borgias the dynasty
that will bequeath the kingdom from father to son.
And you are my prince.
Aren't you coming to bed?
What are you thinking?
When will I be set free?
Don't you like the rooms I've provided for you?
In Sant'Angelo, the guests usually have much less comfortable lodgings.
I am Caterina Sforza.
I'd rather be cast in a dungeon,
I'd rather be engulfed in flames,
than be humiliated as a prisoner.
But you're not one.
You're not.
You can leave when you wish,
But,
for the moment,
I want you to remain as my guest.
You can have my lands,
my flag, my body,
but you'll never have me.
We'll have to settle for that.
One can't have everything, Caterina.
One can't have everything.
- He says you lost. - What?
No, that game was mine, I'm telling you.
That's enough.
Guards!
Lie still, Alfonso.
Cesare is the devil.
He did it.
I believe he did it.
Don't say that, Alfonso.
It wasn't Cesare.
Calm yourself, please.
He wants to kill me so he can have you.
Don't you see?
We have to leave Rome.
Leave Rome!
Alfonso is right.
It was Cesare who sent his assassins.
It wasn't Cesare.
I'm going to see my father.
Your father?
He is in agreement with him.
In any case, he's got no power over Cesare.
Not anymore. Don't you realize?
We have to leave Rome, Sancha.
We'll go home.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow we'll leave Rome.
Now,
get some rest.
Don't open it!
Open!
Open in the name of His Holiness Alexander VI!
What is the reason for this ruckus?
His Holiness wants to see Lady Lucrezia. Open up!
Didn't you hear?
They come in the name of His Holiness. Open up!
Burkard!
Lady Lucrezia, I'm sorry to come at this time.
They tried to kill him,
but he's out of danger.
Don't worry.
Your father knows what happened, he wants to see you.
A guard will stay here as protection.
I'll accompany you.
Wait a moment.
Father!
Someone tried to kill Alfonso and they say it was Cesare!
I don't know what lies you've been told, but my Alfonso...
We must help him.
We must get him out of Rome.
His only crime is to love me.
- If it was Cesare... - Daughter,
at times, good follows a tortuous path.
What good?
What good are you talking about?
- My brother's? - No, Lucrezia, the family's.
Cesare is only an instrument, as I am.
The Borgias.
The Borgias are the end.
I beg you.
- I've always obeyed you. - Then continue doing so.
Stay here, beside me.
We'll pray together.
We'll ask forgiveness for our sins.
Don't do this to me.
Look deep into your heart, treasure,
and tell me what lies there.
Please!
Alfonso!
Lucrezia,
something terrible has happened.
Murderer!
Bury her brother and take her away. I never want to see her again.
Or she can go back to where she came from
before the same happens to her.
I want to thank the governor who has gathered us here.
We know that Valentinois is preparing to attack Bologna.
We know what that means.
It means Cesare would have no more adversaries.
He himself told me
that he wants Lucrezia to marry the son of Ercole d'Este,
to have Ferrara as an ally.
Lucrezia is the pawn again.
But the Este family doesn't sympathize with the Borgias.
They are raising objections to the marriage.
Alexander VI will get what he wants.
He always does, I don't know how.
That marriage is very important to the Borgias.
Then Cesare will be King of Italy.
The first King of Italy.
Tyrant of Italy, you mean.
If we don't stop him, he'll eliminate us one by one,
as he did with Alfonso of Aragon.
Syphilis is driving him insane.
He's possessed by the devil.
It isn't the devil, it's the blood of the Borgias.
We must unite to stop them.
You don't intend to meet your new husband
dressed in mourning, do you?
Alfonso is from one of the noblest Italian families.
You don't know what your father had to do to get him to agree.
You should show your gratitude, be happy!
I don't know if I can.
Don't say that. Stop thinking of yourself for once.
- And think of my family. - Exactly.
Cesare...
Why did you let him in?
He's your brother.
I know you don't want to see me
but I couldn't leave for Ferrara without saying goodbye.
I don't know when I'll see you again.
I'm going with you!
Hello.
Let go!
Here, Rodrigo, your sword.
Don't be afraid.
Of course he's afraid.
Everyone close to you dies.
My family doesn't fear me.
You don't fear me.
I do now.
You were always the person I loved most.
But you're the person who has done me most harm.
And now I belong to another family.
My father is marrying me off again in our interests.
I'll keep the best memory of you in my heart.
Bring the children.
Rodrigo!
- Come along. - I don't want to go.
Come!
Neither do I.
Can't we play a little longer?
What are you looking at?
Who are you?
You're...
You're cold.
Cold as death.
Neither you nor I is affected by death.
Because we don't fear it.
Neither of us.
We're similar in that.
That's why we're together.
We are together because you are keeping me here.
Get out. All of you.
Are you still waiting for them to come and get you?
They'll come, don't doubt it.
Very well.
I'm waiting for them.
Come in!
Where are those terrible enemies, Caterina?
Why have they never come in all this time?
Don't look at me like that.
Who will come?
Who?
The King of France?
The King of France is my friend, you hear?
Who'll come here?
A ghost?
Which one?
The soul of Alfonso of Aragon?
Of my brother Juan?
Did you know my brother Juan?
The handsome Juan?
Did they tell you I killed him?
Did they tell you?
Yes, they did.
Yes, of course they did.
Cesare Borgia killed his brother, he was jealous.
My father thinks so too.
Well, I didn't kill him.
But I would have been happy to.
If his ghost were to appear here now
I'd send him back to the hell he's come from
and where one day I'll be reunited with him.
We'll meet there.
All of us.
I've got your life in my hands.
But not your own.
Here.
Stick it in me.
Send me to hell, Countess.
They are waiting downstairs,
to take you to wherever you order.
You're free.
Governor Lorca, can you confirm this news?
Unfortunately, Holiness.
Piombino and Urbino have rebelled, and other territories too.
They are suggesting a pact with your son.
And Vitellozzo is leading them?
Vitellozzo Vitelli,
with Paolo and Francesco Orsini and Olvirotto da Fermo.
Very well.
They're acting out of fear.
Fear that when you conquer Bologna you may become a tyrant.
But I'm sure that if you were to listen to them,
they could convince you.
Never.
They fear you, but they have great respect for you.
I could organize a meeting at my palace in Sesenna.
No, no meetings.
The governor may be right.
Your army is weak, Cesare,
and the forces promised by the King of France are too far away.
We can't risk a confrontation.
We'll negotiate peace, as you suggest.
The Holy Spirit inspires your decisions.
Can you explain why?
Brukard,
bring the letter.
At once, Holiness.
Negotiate peace.
Send them money to confirm your friendship
and promise they won't be punished.
Assure them you never thought of taking anything from them.
I have to excuse myself?
Explain it to him.
Yes, explain it to me.
Only then will they believe in your good will.
- My good will? - Yes.
Then you'll go to the meeting Ramiro Lorca proposes and...
And?
They'll kill you.
From Venice.
Our spies tell me that a few days ago that hypocritical pig
had three ships at San Marcos docks
loaded with gold and precious stones.
At first, I couldn't believe it.
The governor
is intending to move elsewhere, it appears.
This north wind will bring snow,
don't you think?
I don't like negotiating here with Cesare.
I prefer to face him in open country.
Yes, and make enemies all at once
of the Pope and the King of France.
This isn't his style, but his father has sent him
so we'll see what he offers.
There he is.
- Vitellozzo. - Duke of Valentinois.
I'm glad to see you.
I feared I had lost a friend.
All of you are welcome.
Where is Governor Ramiro?
We mustn't detain him, he's going on a journey.
Corella!
Tie them up.
Let me pass!
Holiness,
I demand an explanation.
Don't you know enough?
Your nephews betrayed the Duke of Valentinois and are under arrest.
The Orsinis were serving the Church faithfully
long before a Borgia set foot on this land!
Captain of the Guard,
arrest Cardinal Orsini.
You wouldn't dare!
Have you gone mad, Rodrigo?
You'll regret this, I swear. Let go of me!
Inform the Duke.
The bear is in the cage
and the cubs can have their throats slit.
In the name of His Holiness Alexander VI,
and by the powers vested in me,
I, Cesare Borgia, Duke of Valentinois and Romagna,
condemn you.
You can never destroy the Orsinis!
You hear? Never!
The Borgias are alone! You hear?
Alone!
A cardinal murdered without any Christian mercy,
without even the pretence of a trial.
Alessandro Farnese, I'm surprised you fear the Borgias.
You're almost a relative.
Your sister
sleeps regularly in our Holy Father's bed.
Precisely.
Do you want to talk of how their relatives end?
You are young.
Think of the future.
His Holiness is old and Cesare, without him,
is a blind man in the dark.
A very powerful blind man.
Don't forget,
he controls the Spanish cardinals.
Yes, but he doesn't know what to do with them.
He's a soldier, he's got no idea how to control a conclave.
When the time comes,
he'll look to someone for advice
and that someone will be me, my dear cardinal.
Giulianno Della Rovere, where are you hiding?
Talk of the devil...
I've come to your house.
Holiness, Duke.
- Welcome to my modest home. - This palace isn't for sale, is it?
I'm joking, fear not.
So, Cardinal Farnese,
are you still offended because I didn't give you
the castles seized from Cardinal Orsini?
My brother is satisfied with what he has,
convinced that His Holiness knows what is best.
Of course I do, because I'm so well advised.
Listen to your sister, Alessandro. Stay by our side.
You don't know how much I appreciate your father's presence here.
This will prove that His Holiness is not afraid of leaving the Vatican,
as evil tongues are saying.
On the contrary.
Only his enemies are afraid.
You've heard him.
Nothing will stop him taking Our Lord's empire
to where it has never been.
You're right,
obviously, the Vatican has never been so great.
Yes, but don't worry.
History will put things in their place.
Serve more wine.
What is this?
God!
God, what is this?
I've been poisoned! Poisoned!
Holiness!
What's wrong with you?
- Are you dreaming? - Damn it!
Help me.
My head! My head is hurting!
Call the doctors!
Call my children!
My children!
Lucrezia...
Juan...
Call my children.
I'm not going to die.
Not now, Lord.
Stand up.
Not now.
Not now, Lord.
I don't think it's poison. It could be fever.
He's ill, very ill.
Where's Cesare? He keeps asking for him.
He is ill too. Whatever it is, it has affected both of them.
Rome will fall into chaos and disorder.
Corella!
Lady Vannozza!
Open the gate!
You'll be safe here.
Get back!
Close the gates!
Cesare, my son!
I don't want to imagine Rome without Rodrigo Borgia.
Even at this distance, I can smell the blood.
Father!
What are we going to do,
without law or order,
with no one to show us the way?
We'll all die with Rodrigo.
Cesare will regain control of the army.
He is the Duke of Valentinois, he is the prince.
There will be a new Pope.
After one there always comes another.
All we can do is wait.
Wait
and trust in the Lord.
The Lord
will have to trust in us.
His Holiness Alexander VI
is dead.
Holiness...
He's not here.
He's escaped! Cesare Borgia has escaped!
Guards!
Cesar Borgia has escaped!
Slowly! Watch what you're doing!
What are you doing here?
Cesare has written from Navarre. He wants to come back to Italy.
I've spoken to your father.
Come back to Italy? To do what?
He is still Duke of Romagna.
There is no Duke of Romagna.
Romagna belongs to Pope Julius Il, like all the Church lands.
Would you make me his enemy?
Go back to your rooms.
This is no place for my wife.
- I must answer that letter. - There it is,
my answer.
Tell your brother to stay in Navarre
and to thank the Lord for letting him stay alive
when so many have died at his hands.
I still have hopes that my dear father-in-law,
Duke Ercole,
or the Duchess Isabel,
who at times seems to show affection for me,
will listen to my requests.
But if I am to be honest,
no one here loves me as I was loved by you
and by our father.
Therefore, I beg you to adorn your heart
with the same patience I have learned to use in order to survive.
They say he wears a mask
because syphilis has made him into a monster.
Have you seen him?
No. Never.
They say that he once ran ten men through with his sword
and then raised them in the air.
That's him.
Pay me now.
This letter is for Cesare Borgia,
but I'll only give it to him.
You're late.
If your life depended on that letter,
half of you would wish you'd never come.
It's so important for him?
No one has answered his demands to return to Rome.
They've turned their backs on him to erase his memory in that way,
because they couldn't kill him.
It's not my mission to wait for an answer, nor carry it.
That's a bad sign.
I've tried everything, Cesare.
No one wants to hear our name.
They are ashamed of us
and deny us a place in the history of Rome,
as if we were only the past.
No one wants you to come back,
no one.
My soul dies when I imagine never seeing you again,
but if you come back they'll killyou.
I pray that God may find for you, brother,
a land where you may spend the rest of your days in peace
and where the hatred of our enemies will never reach you.
There they are, sire.
They're mercenaries.
Let's go, before they see us!
What are you doing? Let's go back!
To where, Ramon?
Sire...
To where?
Go.
Go!
Cesare Borgia's remains never came back to Rome.
The Inquisition had them buried
in the patio of St. Mary's Church in Viana
so that people could walk on his grave.
Lucrezia never came back to Rome either.
In Ferrara she became known
as a patron of art and culture.
She died 12 years later, at 39, after giving birth to her 5th child.