Rising from a steep promontory in the province of Viterbo, in the heart of Lazio, the small village of Capodimonte reaches out toward the waters of Lake Bolsena. Its roots go back to the Etruscans, and it became a settled community around the 7th century. But its golden age came with the Renaissance, when the powerful Farnese family built the Rocca Farnese, a fortress-turned-residence that still crowns the village and looks out over the lake and the hills beyond.
And yet it was here, in the shadow of that fortress, that the life of an extraordinary gentleman came to its close. The story goes that the young lady-in-waiting who became his wife fainted on their wedding day, the first time she saw his face. He was covered in hair from head to toe, yet cultured and kind.
