On April 27, 1462, Pius II performed a reverse canonization, condemning Sigismondo Malatesta, lord of Rimini (1416–1468) to hell. This event and the reactions to it produced a black legend regarding Malatesta. But D’Elia sees the “extremely pagan court culture” surrounding Malatesta as “a prime example of the challenge to Christian values inherent in the very idea of Renaissance” (3). He traces the pagan themes that dominated the Malatesta court in art and architecture (particularly the Tempio Malatestiano commissioned from Leon Battista Alberti), but, above all, in the Hesperis of Basinio of Parma (1425–1457), a Latin epic poem celebrating Malatesta’s valor in war, and in the treatise on the art of war by Roberto Valturio (1405–1475), depicting Sigismondo as an ideal commander. There are also surviving poems by Basinio, Porcellio (1405–1484), and Roberto Orsi (1420–1496), extolling Malatesta’s infatuation with the younger Isotta degli Atti (1432–1474).
The bulk of the book...