Naming her brings to mind a time of conspiracies, cloak-and-dagger events, and lascivious, decadent orgies of sex and wealth. But was Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI and his favorite, Vannozza Cattanei, truly such a dissolute being?

According to historians and researchers, including Anita Sanseverino, a photographer with a focus on the Belpaese who developed an interest in Lucrezia and her role in the Borgias’ empire, it isn’t really the case. Sanseverino, who will lead a conference on the subject at Casa Belvedere, The Italian Cultural Foundation, Staten Island, on the 29th of this month, strongly supports a view that sees Lucrezia more of a pawn used ad hoc to increase her famous family’s power, rather than a soulless temptress without morals.