Sand a rock star from the past exists, it could be Atto Melani (Pistoia 1626 – Paris 1714): opera singer, writer, abbot and spy at the court of the Sun King, he lived a long and adrenaline-filled life, truly worthy of an Ian Fleming story. He used his concerts at the courts of Europe to deliver messages and obtain information, meanwhile he established epistolary and personal contacts with the powerful of the seventeenth century, actions that made him go down in history as one of the most influential informants of the time.
His incredibly fictional figure became famous thanks to the historical thrillers written by Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti. The team of novelists, recently joined by their daughter Theodora, has just published for Rizzoli Unicum Opus, the double-faced and final volume of the seven-novel saga that began 24 years ago with the bestseller Imprimatur, translated into 26 languages and 60 countries.
Atto Melani: the opera singer who influenced European politics
We know about him that he was the son of a bell ringer from Pistoia and the third of seven children, as well as a trusted man of Cardinal Mazarin. We also know that he was castrated at a very young age and started the profession of opera singer.
Unicum Opus by Monaldi & Sorti (Rizzoli)
His extraordinary voice opened the doors to the court of the King of France, Louis XIV, of whom he became first a diplomat and then a secret agent. He hung out with popes, high prelates of the Church, sovereigns, ambassadors and courtesans with absolute ease.
Atto Melani as Apollo in a painting by Andrea Sacchi (1641). Photo courtesy Monaldi&Sorti
He had access to the conclaves and was allowed to participate in delicate political negotiations, the same ones they threw themselves into the foundations of modern Europe. Expert in creating alliances, Atto Melani, above all, knew how to listen. In an era in which power also passed through encrypted letters, salons and private confessions, he became a shrewd and skilled intermediary.
Monaldi&Sorti discover Atto Melani’s secret archive
After years of research, Monaldi & Sorti discovered the secret archive of Atto Melani in the Labronica Library of Livorno, disappeared daringly and was searched for in vain by historians for almost 120 years, where he was buried in a large collection of over 60 thousand manuscripts, the Bastogi autograph library: over 3000 letters and confidential writings of the greats of his time, from Mazarin to Richelieu, from the Medici to the queens of France, beautiful ladies, 007s and ambassadors.
From left: Theodora Sorti, Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti. Photo courtesy: Monaldi&Sorti
«It is the fruit of a lifetime’s work. The millionaire fortune born thanks to the talent of Atto Melani was thrown to the wind in 1907 by the last heir, who left everything to two illiterate settlers, while the relatives were left empty-handed. From the Melani palace in Pistoia, later destroyed by an American bomb in 1943, one hundred and ten manuscript volumes by Atto Melani, hundreds of ancient books and over three hundred paintings by great masters, from Guido Reni to Correggio, from Spagnoletto to Van Eyck, took flight, never resurfaced, the dispersion of which we are investigating with the art historian of the Ministry of Culture Gianni Pittiglio. The result was a sensational judicial and media case, the echoes of which reached as far as the USA and Brazil”, declared Monaldi & Sorti to Ansa. The “treasure hunt” with positive results is told by the authors in Unicum Opus.
Melani, messenger of love from the Sun King
In the Melani correspondence, the authors found evidence of an unknown exchange of letters between Louis XIV and Maria Mancini, his great love. The drama of the young king and his failed marriage to the beautiful niece of Cardinal Mazarin, called to Paris by her uncle, is famous in French literature. In agreement with the sovereign’s mother, in fact, Mazarin decided as a political strategy to marry the Infanta of Spain to Louis, and to marry his niece to the powerful and very rich Roman prince Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna.
Letter from the French Minister De Croissy to Atto Melani (1692) on the correspondence between Louis XIV and the Sun King. Courtesy: Monaldi&Sorti
After a famous tearful farewell, celebrated by poets and writers, Louis and Maria never saw each other again. But the youthful love between her and the plus grand roi du monde found a way to resist time thanks to a secret correspondence that lasted decades, in which Atto Melani himself acted as messenger, always a close friend of Maria, with whom he was in turn platonically in love.
Atto Melani 400: all the events
On the four hundredth anniversary of Melani’s birth, a large series of celebratory events is planned. It starts on June 5th at the Labronica Library in Livorno, with the inauguration of the exhibition curated by the authors on the archive they recently discovered. The theme will be taken up again in September by the Forteguerriana library in Pistoia, his hometown.
On the initiative of the senator of the Culture Commission Daniela Sbrollini, a meeting-debate dedicated to him will take place in the Senate on 17 June, in which a group of experts will take part who will discuss Italian archives and their valorization and dissemination. Florence responds with a day of studies in September and an exhibition in 2027 on Melani, a spy for the Medici but also a faithful agent of France.
Finally, an October appointment in Rome at the National Central Library, which will set up an exhibition and a debate with a panel of fourteen experts: in addition to Monaldi & Sorti, speakers will include, among others, the art historian Francesco Petrucci and the musicologist Barbara Nestola.