Early life[]
Lucrezia Donati was an Italian noblewoman and was born in Florence. She was accounted as the most beautiful and sophisticated woman of the city among people, and was Lorenzo the Magnificent's mistress. Her husband Niccolò Ardinghelli was a merchant who usually stayed in Constantinople to trade.
After marrying Clarice Orsini, Lorenzo ends his relationship with her leaving her heartbroken. A year later Lorenzo seeks support from her husband and is denied partly due to her influence. Clarice lobbing for her husband's candidate approaches her, giving her poems Lorenzo wrote for her assuring her Lorenzo did love her once.