At the end of the 15th century, Italy did not exist as a state.
Families ruled the different provinces,
maintaining an uneasy balance between themselves.
In the shadow of France and Spain,
the Vatican's influence was decisive in the order of the Christian world.
The Duke of Valentinois!
Holiness,
I offer you my sword and my faith in defense of the Mother Church.
Join our forces with the Spanish
in the war against the French and...
return.
Return with trophies and glory,
as you have always done.
So be it.
Holiness.
When we left Rome, emissaries were sent to the different commands.
Is that not so?
To each and every one.
- What did the order say? - Castelnuovo.
Castelnuovo?
Where are the men?
Where are the arms?
Where is the army that should have been waiting here, and isn't?
And Miguel Corella?
Duke of Valentinois,
I arrest you for the murder of your brother, Juan Borgia,
Duke of Gandia.
Who are you? On whose authority do you act?
I am Gonzalo de Córdoba, acting on orders from my sovereigns,
Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon,
and the request of Pope Julius II.
I am the Captain General of the Vatican army!
You will be taken to Spain and imprisoned.
Arrest him!
This is absurd.
This is totally absurd!
Whoever is responsible will pay, and so will you!
And your people too!
Let go of me!
Tell whoever has ordered this that I won't be here for long.
You hear?
You can watch day and night.
I'll cut off your heads and send them to your children!
I am Cesare Borgia!
No one will prevent me from ruling in Italy!
I am Cesare Borgia!
You hear?
THE BORGIAS
ROME, 12 YEARS EARLIER
It's the Borgias.
Come on.
Come on, hurry!
Come on.
We'll go through San Ignacio Square.
- It's the Orsinis' quarter. - We can say hello to them.
We have to get on with the other Roman families, Jofré.
Well, what a surprise! The Valencians have forgotten their way home.
But why am I surprised?
What are swine like the Borgias doing in Rome?
It's not the place for them.
If you're looking for your father, follow the smell.
Ignore him, Cesare.
What is it, Paolo?
Afraid your women will notice the smell of a male for once?
Male?
All I smell here is ox, like the one
on your coat of arms. But I don't know if it's male.
Ask your sister.
Bastard!
Cesare, no!
Not today.
Cardinal Zivo.
Rodrigo Borgia.
Cardinal Ascanio Sforza.
Rodrigo Borgia.
Cardinal Giovanni Colonna.
Rodrigo Borgia.
Cardinal Raffaele Riario.
Cardinal Giovanni di Medici.
Cardinal Michele.
Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini.
Cardinal Gianbattista Orsini.
Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere.
Cardinal Della Rovere, your vote.
Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere, your vote.
Rodrigo Borgia.
Habemus papam!
Long live Alexander VI!
Long live Rodrigo Borgia!
Today, yes, Juan.
Juan,
I am the Pontiff's secretary. After attending to their eminences,
His Holiness wishes to see all his children in private.
I'll get Lucrezia.
A palace for me, mother! I can't believe it.
Your father has always loved us.
Now that he has achieved what he always desired,
- he'll give each of us the best. - The best?
I don't know for whom.
He's going to make me a cardinal.
You, a cardinal?
Yes. Of Valencia, I think.
- Do you know what that means? - Hurry up.
Cardinal!
You'll be a handsome cardinal! Let me hug you.
Lucrezia, come here, you're spilling all the water!
We'll never finish.
My children!
Pontifex sum.
I am Pope!
Juan!
There are great things ahead of us.
Jofré!
I'd like you to meet Cardinal Ascanio Sforza.
Cardinal, these are two of my three sons.
The Cardinal's help
was decisive in getting your father elected as Pope.
Always at the service of Our Mother Church.
Of course.
Holiness.
Gentlemen.
I had to name him vice chancellor
and grant him the city of Nepi to get his support.
Come! Come, my little one!
Father!
Come here.
I knew God had chosen me the day I saw your face.
You get prettier every day.
Cesare.
It's not that, Rodrigo, I mean, Holiness.
It's the procedure.
You've been vice chancellor, you know that audiences...
Precisely. I know better than you.
And if the Pontiff wants to hold audiences in his own rooms,
he'll have a good reason, won't he?
The protocol...
I decide the protocol. I decide everything.
We won't spend the next years discussing everything, Burkard.
And Giulia Farnese is to have access to my rooms when I so wish.
- Eminence... - Holiness.
Holiness, prudence is...
Other Popes have had women in their beds
and we've seen it. Prudence!
I am Alexander VI.
Let others be prudent.
Red and yellow.
Our colors.
Even the sky wants to honor the Borgias.
A new era is starting for our family today.
An era that your father has awaited
for thirty years,
since Calixtus III, my uncle and Pope at that time,
brought me from Xativa.
Since I became cardinal,
secretary,
vice chancellor.
Since our enemies
treacherously killed my poor brother, Pedro Juan.
Thirty years during which I have been learning
and waiting to be
what I am today.
And now,
Rome will know the glory of the Borgias.
I'll be delighted to help crush the arrogance of the Roman families.
No, Cesare.
We won't be content with mere revenge.
It was hard to prevent them
- expelling us from Rome. - Rome?
Rome will belong to the Borgias.
The Orsinis, Caetanis, Colonnas...
All those families who repudiated us for being foreigners
will have to bow down and respect us, children.
Respect us.
Because the Lord,
who decides all,
has put His power in our hands.
We are
law, justice,
order.
We will not let crimes like robbery, murder,
non-payment of tributes, heresy,
sedition, witchcraft adultery,
continue to sully the name of this holy city
which has to be a model for the rest of Christianity.
And then,
we'll change the course of history.
Those who use the Church's power to feed their own interests,
dictating laws that benefit only them,
will taste the flavor of the Lord's justice
and will never again hold those positions
from which they ignored Christian morality, the people's hunger
and the security of our lands.
The Borgias will be a scaffold for the greedy, the corrupt,
the traitors,
and the privileges of certain cardinals, noblemen and landowners
will be revised and their excesses curtailed.
What are you doing?
Is this how you use the money you steal from the Vatican, Colonna?
I have never stolen. Who said that?
Everyone, Colonna.
Matthew says in the Gospel
that if your hand is the cause of sin, cut it off.
Alexander VI is not the messenger of God, but of Satan.
He is the God of money.
He is Lucifer.
He is the Anti-Christ!
Those who believe they are truer than we are
will understand that the word of the Lord has one legitimate voice,
the Borgias.
TWO YEARS LATER
Excellent work, maestro.
I am truly amazed.
It has a beauty that almost equals that of the model.
May I see it?
- May she? - Of course, Holiness.
See how much the Pontiff loves you?
Are you happy now, little Giulia?
Only if you give me a kiss.
You'll remember my brother Alessandro, won't you?
Giulia, Giulia,
you never stop.
His Eminence, Cardinal Cesare Borgia!
Giulia.
Hello, Cesare.
Cesare, look at this marvel.
I've had her painted as Our Lady.
With this picture, I can adore
sacred love and profane love at the same time.
Do you like it?
Our maestro will do others with images of all the family.
They're starting a Resurrection in which I appear.
And another where you, as cardinal, will have an important place.
And that isn't all.
Follow me, Cesare!
I've known stubborn people, people unable to appreciate
the unmerited gifts life has given them,
but you still surprise me. You don't appreciate what you have.
Listen,
can you imagine the wealth and power you will have
as a cardinal?
I'm not made for prayer, father.
I don't want to spend my life in these rooms.
Giulia is torturing me
to make a cardinal of her useless brother, Alessandro Farnese,
and you, my son, reject it.
Yes, I am your son,
but I'm the first born.
Precisely, Cesare.
You will learn that it is here,
between these walls, that great fortunes are built,
and it is from these rooms which you detest
that Rome is ruled. Rome and all the Christian world.
You are mistaken to think you count for less than the others.
I have great plans
for each one of you.
Holiness, the Duke of Gandia is here.
Juan!
In the north, the land is controlled by the Sforzas of Ludovic the Moor.
In the south, the blue of the Aragonese of Naples.
And in between, Rome.
That is, us.
We must make alliances that will ensure our position.
Alone, we are nothing.
Juan, your marriage to the Duchess of Gandia
has won us friendship with Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon,
even if they keep begging.
They want the Portuguese share of the New World, but
they'll always need the Papal Bull.
And we are going to marry off Lucrezia
to one of the Sforzas of Milan.
- Who is he? - Giovanni.
Giovanni Sforza?
He is half a bastard.
He is no one.
He pays tribute to the Church
and is a nephew of Ludovic the Moor. I ask no more of him.
And for Naples, father?
For Naples, Sancha of Aragon, daughter of Alfonso.
An illegitimate daughter,
but she is one of the most beautiful and exuberant women in Naples.
- We'll marry our Jofré to her. - Thank you, father.
And I? Do I stay here in the Vatican?
You'll obey your father like a good son,
and your Pontiff like a good Christian.
Cesare, if you have anything against me, say it,
but I've got nothing to do with your father's decisions.
Very well, Miguel. Thank you.
What's wrong?
Are you angry with me?
I'm angry with
- life. - Why?
Because our father hasn't found you a wife?
No, because I'm not made to be a cardinal,
while Juan is Duke of Gandia, a father and a captain.
You have to be obedient.
Our father knows what is good for the family.
Stop it, Lucrezia.
Aren't you my little brother anymore? Cesare!
Leave me alone!
Cesare!
Our father did well to put you in a habit!
To my sister Lucrezia's happiness
and to the Borgias!
To the Borgias!
Let us also drink
to the family that has taken us to its bosom,
in the hope that our bloods
may merge in one.
To the Sforza family!
Brother-in-law,
I advise you to care for her.
Remember, your wife has three brothers.
Who is that wonder?
Sancha of Aragon, and her brother Alfonso.
That's Sancha of Aragon?
Juan...
- She's going to be Jofré's wife. - Yes, I know.
Jofré is fortunate.
Let's hope he keeps that royal female where no man can look at her,
because if a man sees her, he's lost.
Brothers, I want you to meet my future wife
and your future sister-in-law, Sancha of Aragon.
Cesare and Juan Borgia.
My lady,
it is a pleasure.
Aren't you two dancing?
I can barely stand up.
That's a scandal.
We'll remedy it immediately.
Will you accompany me?
You'll start with Bracciano castle.
Virginio Orsini has retreated there.
He is your first objective.
Captain Guidobaldo di Montefeltro,
I am sure your experience will be very valuable
in advising our beloved son, Juan, Captain General of the Vatican army
which will have to lead us to victory. And you, Juan,
go with our blessing
and remind the Orsinis
that they owe obedience to the Supreme Pontiff Alexander VI
and that he will never allow
opposition to the law imposed by the Holy Mother Church.
A body like that is not made for prayer and fasting.
It's a pity.
If your father hadn't dedicated you to an ecclesiastic career,
perhaps I would be married to you instead of to your brother Jofré.
He is never to find out.
That is my wish too.
In any case, no one is forcing you to cuckold him.
Tell me, Cesare.
It is hinted that you and your father share your sister Lucrezia's bed.
Never say that again.
Is that clear?
Never say it again.
Never again.
Let's go!
No one could foresee that instead of going to the castle
Vitellozzo would attack our camp.
It's senseless. Even Guidobaldo never imagined it.
We couldn't react.
It was butchery.
And Guidobaldo di Montefeltro was taken prisoner?
Yes, that's what I said.
Prison-er.
Stop writing!
Pardon?
Put down that damn quill!
Do we have to live with a raven that spies on our every breath
and records everything in his damn registers?
We know he's a prisoner.
The news doesn't need Abbot Burkard's quill to fly.
That's enough.
One defeat means nothing.
We'll get our own back.
Meanwhile, we'll pay the ransom Orsini demands.
For Guidobaldo?
It's 3,000 ducats.
His family is rich, they can pay it.
Wasn't he the expert?
No, Juan.
Whoever betrays us, pays,
but whoever is our friend must know he can count on us.
I'll go.
The Orsinis and the Borgias should agree, and avoid useless disputes.
Useless and dangerous.
I heard that your brother Juan was wounded.
Wounds can be cured, eminence. Death is the only certainty.
You are right, cardinal,
but that is no reason to hasten our encounter with it.
Often it is not for us to decide.
True.
Cesare,
shall I do it?
No, you'll do as I say, how I say.
Wait for me in the kitchen.
How will you dissolve this marriage?
I don't want to be widowed so young.
It's the safest way.
And you won't be alone for long.
Of course.
I'm such a fool.
Otherwise, why such concern about my conjugal happiness?
- Lucrezia... - No!
You must talk to our father again and say I don't want to.
Or else I'll go. I'm sure I can convince him.
You can't do that. He doesn't know I'm here.
I thought you'd understand.
Giovanni Sforza will never support our cause in Naples.
He isn't the right husband for the family.
No, Cesare.
It's not that.
You hate him.
Yes, you!
You could never stand him.
No one could.
Not even you.
Jofré!
What are you doing, son?
You're drunk.
Of course I'm drunk.
It's what I do well.
I don't like you talking like that.
Cesare, tell our mother what you all think of me.
That I'm good for nothing,
not even to be the husband of that whore!
That's enough.
She's not here, is she?
No, she's not here.
She'll be looking for something better than a Borgia.
People don't like the Borgias.
- Everyone hates us. - I said, that's enough.
Of course, eminence.
Pontifical cardinal.
By the way,
they say you share your sister with...
I said, enough!
Things aren't solved that way, Jofré.
You must stop drinking.
Thank you, mother, I'm better now.
Don't confuse love
with matrimony.
Well,
where did you hear all that?
Everyone says it,
- in all the gossip shops in Rome. - Rome?
They just sow poison around the name of Borgia.
It's lies.
Lies?
They say Sancha is sleeping with Juan.
Don't listen to them.
Lies?
Have you seen how she flaunts herself?
Jofré, Sancha is
a woman.
What do you mean? Am I not man enough for her?
I mean she has got sin written on her flesh
and that doesn't depend on you.
You're talking like a cardinal.
One day I'll confess my sins to you,
the ones that are stuck to my skin. Let me be a Borgia in that, at least.
My prey!
No, leave me alone.
I'll leave you naked!
Stop it!
What's wrong?
We have to talk.
We'll talk afterwards.
What are you doing?
You have to go away.
But, where? Why?
They're going to kill you.
You have to help me.
Don't let them kill me.
Help me.
Giulia,
nothing is lovelier than your body between these sheets
but my duties are my bane.
Of course.
Tell me when you want me to come back.
My husband will bring me.
Tomorrow.
Who let that woman come in?
How dare you present yourself here?
Why won't you receive me?
I've done no wrong, Holiness.
You haven't?
You're a married woman.
Where is your husband? I'll tell you where he is.
Hiding among his family,
far from the marriage bed
where he should be until I say otherwise!
I know nothing, I swear.
Are you laughing at me?
Is that it?
Is that what you're doing?
If I deserve to be punished, do it.
Oh, Lucrezia,
you take advantage of how much I love you.
Come here.
Come on.
Come here beside me.
You know, Burkard?
Perhaps
our Lucrezia is right in not wanting to be widowed.
But in that case she'll have to be a virgin again.
Here she is.
So it was true.
I don't know what to do with you.
You don't?
But I don't want to leave these four walls.
What do you think you're doing?
Well,
the cardinal has come to preach a sermon.
What is it?
Are you envious?
Am I going to Hell?
At least in Hell, no one would find out.
Are you going to kill me?
- We're sick of your stupidity. - "We"?
Who is "we"?
The family, Juan.
The family!
Father.
Lucrezia, my child!
- Wait here, Penthesilea. - I will.
You came very quickly.
Good! An obedient daughter.
Come, sit here with your father.
Know what this is?
You're free, my child. Read it.
Giovanni Sforza admitted everything.
Your marriage will be annulled and you can choose a new husband.
What's wrong?
Aren't you happy?
I would be, if I could truly choose my husband.
What are you saying?
You have a duty to fulfill. You are Lucrezia Borgia,
not a peasant who can marry just anyone.
Your life is a matter of state.
Feelings are for the rabble.
We have a destiny.
You don't understand, do you?
I must find a marriage
that will suit the project I have designed for you all.
But until I find it and to avoid gossip,
you should go into the San Sixto Convent.
I won't!
You've made me a virgin again to make me a nun?
It's just for a while,
to show everyone your grief at the annulment of your marriage.
It's all arranged.
True.
It's all arranged.
Everything.
Mr. Perotto
will be at your side while you're a guest of the nuns
on the old Via Appia,
and your maid Penthesilea, of course.
You'll want for nothing and I'll bring you back soon.
Perotto is Spanish, a writer and a poet.
He is an educated man, faithful to us and to our cause.
He'll collect you at your mother's house.
She tried to persuade me against sending you away
but now she, like you, has understood
that a period in retreat means your virginal image
will be accepted by all and sundry.
His Excellency the Captain General of the Army,
Vicar of Viterbo,
Duke of Gandia,
Juan Borgia!
Duke of Gandia, welcome to my home.
Cardinal.
- Thank you for the invitation. - No, I thank you for coming.
Cardinal Riario.
Duke.
Cardinal della Rovere.
Please, Duke, be seated.
A little wine?
I'm delighted to see you,
my lord Duke of Gandia.
I'm sure he's delighted too,
as the last time he saw you
he had his back to you,
which is how one is when one is running away.
Sire,
I don't know you, but I won't permit...
- Gentlemen! - My name is Felipe Brancaccio.
I'm a friend of Giovanni Sforza,
who until a few days ago mounted
your "immaculate virgin sister".
I must admit that
having a father who can put the pieces together again
after he has broken them
isn't bad at all.
Forgive me, Duke,
I don't know what to say.
Say nothing, Cardinal,
or the Duke will go and hide beneath his men's corpses
to save his ass.
Please, Duke, I beg you...
Or will you go and sleep with your sister,
as your father and brother do?
I think his name is Brancaccio.
He's a friend of the Sforzas.
- Did they say anything else? - No, they didn't.
I want you to write the names of all those who were there.
How dare they?
And you, Juan?
Did you say nothing, do nothing?
Did you not react?
I was Cardinal Orsini's guest. What could I do?
What could you do?
They insult your family and you do nothing.
What kind of blood runs in your veins?
Giovanni Sforza wants revenge for the joke we played on him.
Being repudiated isn't agreeable, much less so
if you lose the dowry as well as your wife.
But I'm surprised they wanted to humiliate us like that.
We must think of a response.
There's no time to think.
Cardinal Borgia, welcome.
Are you joining the hunt?
Who is Felipe Brancaccio?
Are you looking for me?
Whoever values his life
should not make a single movement!
Greetings from our holy father, Rodrigo Borgia,
and from his family
who honor him
and love him.
Cesare despises me because he envies me.
He never wanted to be a cardinal.
He tells the four winds that his destiny is the battlefield.
and he could do it better than I.
He wants my position.
He's an obedient son, don't fear him.
I fear no one.
Brancaccio won't speak of the Borgias again.
You've paid little attention to his glances.
- He is anxious to have you. - It's not true.
What do you mean?
I've seen him spying on you.
Either I'm greatly mistaken
or he is dying of love for you.
Well, cardinal,
no red robe tonight?
Not when I go hunting, Juan. You know that.
Hunting?
- I'm going hunting tonight too. - Yes.
Leave some prey for he who has a right to them.
Stop arguing. You don't seem like brothers.
- Behave like the Christians you are. - It's true. Christians.
Just look at the family.
The Borgias are the perfect family.
My father, the Supreme Pontiff.
My mother, a saint.
My brother, a cardinal.
And my sister, shut away in a convent!
What about me?
- What about you? - Yes, me.
Who or what am I?
Sit down and be quiet.
No, I don't want to be quiet.
And I don't want to be told to be quiet.
I'm leaving.
Why?
It doesn't matter if I'm here or not.
Jofré...
Leave him be, mother. He's drunk, like everyone.
Did I say something?
Something I shouldn't have?
If the only joys in life were those given by one's children,
I'd only have grief.
Good night, excuse me.
Shall we go, Cesare?
Alfonso of Aragon isn't just Sancha's sister.
He's a Neapolitan nobleman,
much loved by the King of Naples
who, should he marry our sister, will make him Duke.
Sancha's brother?
It was her idea, wasn't it?
- Whose? - Sancha's.
She convinced you.
No, it was our father's idea.
Let's not fight over her.
Not over Sancha.
Why would I want to?
Come on, Juan.
Are you coming?
Please yourself.
Be careful.
I've got money, arms,
and a name that, thanks to you, scares people.
I have nothing to fear.
Riccio, let's go!
I never know if you're being serious or having fun at my expense.
A little of both.
So you think Lucrezia is prettier than I?
No, it's not that.
I see her in a different way.
- She's my daughter. - I could be, too.
Believe me, I've often thought that.
Holiness!
Burkard,
I hate these apparitions of yours.
They only forebode something sad, terrible or impertinent.
What is it now?
The Duke of Gandia, sire.
Get back!
What a tragedy!
He was here this morning when I came to open the store.
Riccio,
where's Juan?
I did all I could to help him.
I swear, all that I could.
Where's Juan?
Eminence, he's dying.
Where is the Duke?
Miguel!
They found his horse in the Jewish quarter.
One of the stirrups was cut through with a dagger.
Everything shows that it was an ambush.
They are searching all of Rome and the outskirts.
Cesare is organizing it.
God!
My boy!
My poor boy!
God!
If you wanted to punish me,
you could have chosen another way to do it.
Why him?
Why?
Juan!
My boy!
My boy...
Look around the bend, in the bushes.
Corella! He's here!
So many people would have liked to do it.
What I don't understand
is why Rodrigo refuses
to look for the culprit.
Maybe he's found him already.
He is famed for being a determined man
but he is also very prudent.
You must admit that.
It is a curse from God.
For my sins,
the Lord has taken away my boy.
We have to reform the Church,
repent,
ask forgiveness from Our Lord,
and from his Holy Mother.
Without Juan,
everything is over, Cesare.
It is all useless.
Don't talk like that.
Nothing is over.
We can't give in to our enemies.
I'll finish what Juan couldn't do.
They say you killed him.
Do you believe that?
If you do, kill me.
Take away the life you gave me if you do.
Let me do it, father.
Let me do it.
I have had a letter from Cesare too.
He is no longer a cardinal and he's going to France.
I'm going to lose them all.
How can I stop this grief from stealing your soul?
There's no way, my love.
My brother Juan is gone.
He left without saying goodbye to me.
And what he was
only remains in my soul.
If that is the price,
I would die to remain in your heart.
They'll come for me soon.
- What do we care? - Perotto,
didn't you hear what I said?
Yes.
They will never permit this love.
There are things, my angel,
light of my life,
A YEAR LATER
Cesare!
Well, you were in a hurry to cast off your cardinal's robes.
You can't imagine how much.
We missed you.
We thought you wouldn't come back from France.
What manners, Duke of Valentinois!
When you were cardinal you weren't so impetuous.
They also say that you went away
because it was you who had Juan killed.
What do you think?
I think that the ways of the Lord are unfathomable,
but all lead to the glory of the Borgias.
Is that why His Holiness
wants to marry Lucrezia to my brother Alfonso?
Cesare, think a little.
Things have changed in your absence.
The Spanish monarchs no longer love us, if they ever did.
It is vital that we strengthen our alliances now.
Isn't it enough to have Sancha?
You're not the one who has to marry. Anything else?
Let's continue, Burkard.
Alfonso will be an excellent husband for Lucrezia.
Go to that convent and tell her that her penance is over.
It's harder to govern a family than to govern the Vatican.
That's why I never had one.
What else do we have?
The French ambassador,
the Duke of Urbino,
a group of the faithful from Portugal...
Stop.
Stop, Burkard.
Stop.