The Pope's Elephant

An "utterly charming"(The Observer) look at the white Indian elephant who became the darling of Pope Leo X and Renaissance Europe.

In 1514, Rome, the Eternal City, was the center of the Chrisitian world and home and workshop to Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo. It was also the city of Pope Leo X, the pleasure-loving pontiff whose court was infamous for its excess, frivolity and impropriety, as well as for its newly-arrived white elephant Hanno. Hanno became a star feature in processions and festivals, and the subject of countless paintings, sculptures and fountains. In this fascinating glimpse at a forgotten sidenote to history, Silvio A. Bedini gives us an elephant's-back view of early modern Europe and the inner workings of the Vatican at the height of its influence. Charmingly written with dozens of accompanying photographs and illustrations, The Pope's Elephant will delight readers just as Hanno delighted the people of Rome five centuries ago.

"A work of extraordinary scholarship. . . . Crisply written and amply illustrated, it shines a bright light on two short lives, that of Leo and Hanno, and that of the age they embodied."-- The Literary Review