Veritas

Atto Melani #3

by Rita Monaldi, Francesco Sorti, Jan van der Haar (Translator)

Wenen, 1711. Europa is verwikkeld in een allesverwoestende oorlog. De abt Atto Melani, voormalig castraatzanger, diplomaat en spion van de Zonnekoning, roept zijn trouwe helper naar Wenen om hem bij te staan in een geheime vredesmissie. Tot ieders verbazing meldt zich tegelijkertijd een delegatie van de Turkse sultan aan het hof van de Oostenrijkse keizer om een eeuwenoud conflict te beslechten. Als de keizer wordt geveld door de pokken, worden de contouren van een complot zichtbaar. Atto Melani moet zich opnieuw bedienen van spionage en chantage om de strijd aan te gaan met de duistere krachten die het begin van het tijdperk van ‘het Kwaad’ willen forceren.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Historical, Italian Literature, Detective, Mystery

727 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Rita Monaldi majored in classical philology and specialized in the history of religions. She is an Italian journalist who, in collaboration with her husband, Francesco Sorti, wrote a series of literary-historical books called Imprimatur, Secretum and Veritas. They both live with their two young children in Vienna.

All the book titles of the series will create the sentence Imprimatur secretum, veritas mysterium. Unicum... The authors translate this as follows: “Even when a secret is printed, the truth is always a mystery. It remains only...” The authors are keeping secret the titles of the final two volumes.

Reviews

[Guy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third in what is likely to be a five-part series of historical novels, this follows the authors' other massive tomes: Imprimatur and Secretum. I enjoyed this book, which combines intrigue, history, and local color (it is set in Vienna at the beginning of the 18th century) in a really vivid way, but this volume adds a note of magic realism that is new and a bit of a departure from the others. Not yet available in English, (written in Italian; I read it in German) but it will be eventually be published in Britain.

A side note: as a reaction to a church-supported boycott of their first book, Imprimatur (which deals with corruption at the papal court in the 17th century), the authors (a husband-and-wife team) decided never to publish in Italy again; their work is published in the Netherlands now.

[Harry Allagree · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've just completed the trilogy by Rita Monaldi & Francesco Sorti of a historical account of events, etc. of the 17th century...over 2000 pages total! That is some accomplishment, if I may say so, for a guy who prefers much shorter books! I can't think of a trilogy I've enjoyed more than this one...well maybe the Stieg Larsson & Hunger Games works. In my opinion, this last volume, Veritas, is the best. It displays, as no other historical book I've read, fictional or otherwise, how dangerous serious & unvarnished reporting of the facts of history is. It is said that "the winners" write the history of any occurence, and that seems to be generally true. Monaldi & Sorti, who were essentially run out of Italy & now live in Vienna, which figures significantly in this book, can attest to that. Their first book of the trilogy, Imprimatur, seems to have been scuttled by the Vatican because it was too revealing. The reflections of the narrator of the series, who is never named -- sort of an Everyperson -- in the last three chapters, are well worth reading & seriously taking to heart, especially as one views the broader picture of the current political situation, particularly in the U.S., but also throughout the world. It has been well worth plowing through 2000+ pages, especially since these authors write beautifully & most descriptively, honestly, with humor & a great sense of drama & surprise.

[Harald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monaldi & Sortis 'Veritas' reiht sich in die (bislang erschienene) Trilogie ('Imprimatur', siehe 'Barocker Bildungsthriller...' - 'Secretum', siehe 'Barocker Bildungsthriller, die zweite....' und 'Veritas') um den Geheimagenten und Kastratensänger Atto Melani (den es tatsächlich gegeben hat) im Dienste des Sonnenkönigs Ludwig XIV. Doch beginnen wir erst einmal mit der Handlung:

Der namenlose Ich-Erzähler der drei Bände geht diesmal, 28 Jahre nach den Begebenheiten die im ersten Roman geschildert wurden, in die kaiserliche Residenzstadt Wien, die Hauptstadt des heiligen römischen Reichs deutscher Nation. Dort hat ihm sein 'Gönner' Atto Melani eine lizenzierte Stelle als Rauchfangkehrer (Schornsteinfeger) gekauft um sich - 11 Jahre nach seinem im letzten Roman gegebenen Versprechen - endlich für die geleisteten Dienste (so glaubt es zumindest der Ich-Erzähler) erkenntlich zu zeigen. Während in Rom, der Heimatstadt des Ich-Erzählers, Schornsteinfeger am unteren Ende der Gesellschaft stehen, erweist sich die Stelle in Wien im Gegensatz dazu als ordentliches Auskommen in einer angesehenen Handwerksprofession. Wir schreiben das Jahr 1711. Atto Melani, obwohl bereits 80 Jahre alt, ist immer noch in geheimer Mission unterwegs. Allerdings haben sich die Zeiten verändert. Während der Handlung des ersten Romans stand Wien 1683 unter türkischer Belagerung, der Kaiser flüchtete Hals über Kopf aus der Stadt, bevor diese durch das christliche Entsatzheer unter dem Polenkönig Jan Sobietzky befreit werden konnte. Heute - 1711 - empfängt der Prinz Eugen als oberster Heerführer des Kaisers eine türkische Gesandschaft und hier beginnen die Verstrickungen, Intrigen und Verschwörungstheorien.

Chloridia, die Gemahlin des Ich-Erzählers, Tochter einer türkischen Sklavin, wird als Übersetzerin für die Belange der Gefolgschaft des türkischen Gesandten in die Dienste Prinz Eugens verpflichtet und wird Zeugin einiger überaus seltsamer Zusammentreffen. Ein Derwisch fordert von einer zwielichtigen Gestalt den Kopf einer hochstehenden Persönlichkeit und der Ich-Erzähler, der in den letzten beiden Bänden bereits Zeuge der hochherrschaftlichen Intrigen und Verschwörungen geworden ist, wittert ein Komplott gegen den deutschen Kaiser. Zudem kommt auch noch Atto Melani unter falschem Namen in der Kaiserstadt an. Von Altersblindheit geschlagen wird er von seinem Neffen Domenico begleitet, der ihm als Führer dient. Doch der ehemalige Kastratensänger und Geheimagent hat nichts von seiner Verschlagenheit verlernt. Wieder versucht er den Ich-Erzähler für seine eigenen Zwecke zu 'missbrauchen', doch diesmal arbeitet der Schornsteinfeger auch auf eigene Rechnung und lässt sich nicht so einfach in Melanis Machenschaften einbeziehen. Der Gehilfe des Schornsteinfegers ist ein Bettelstudent und mit Hilfe seiner Komillitonen startet der römische Rauchfangkehrer seine eigenen Nachforschungen, die sich zuerst um die Aufklärung eines vom türkischen Gesandten dem Prinzen offiziell überbrachten lateinischen Satzes drehen:

"Soli soli soli ad pomum venimus aureum."

'Pomum aureum', der 'Goldene Apfel' ist ohne Zweifel die kaiserliche Residenzstadt Wien, seit Jahrhunderten ein begehrliches Ziel des türkischen Eroberungsstrebens, aber was der Rest des Satzes bedeutet bleibt schleierhaft. Leider sterben die Komilitonen des Schornsteinfegergehilfen einer nach dem anderen bei der Aufklärung.

Daneben hat der Schornsteinfeger auch noch alltägliche Aufgaben, wie z.B. die Instandsetzung der Kamine im Schloß 'Neugebäu', das vom Kaiser Maximilian II. im 16. Jahrhundert nach dessen Sieg über die Türken im Stile von Suleymans Feldlager (des erfolglosen türkischen Sultans) erbaut wurde und seit dessen Tod langsam dem Verfall anheim fiel. Das Schloss beherbergt immer noch die Menagerie des Kaisers (=Zoo) mit vielen wilden Tieren und dort findet sich auch ein interessantes Beutestück, das 'fliegende Schiff' eines portugisischen Erfinders. Der jetzige Kaiser - soviel sei schon an dieser Stelle verraten - stirbt am Ende des Buches, was auch den Tatsachen entspricht. Gab es tatsächlich ein Komplott? Stecken die Türken hinter dem Anschlag? Interessanterweise starb der Kaiser an den Blattern (Pocken), einer bis dato nicht notwendigerweise tödlich verlaufenden Krankheit. Zudem stirbt auch noch der französische Thronfolger zur gleichen Zeit an der selben Krankheit. Was hat Atto Melani mit dem Ganzen zu tun? Existiert tatsächlich eine 'geheime Verschwörung'...?

Diesen Fragen widmet sich das Buch auf mehr als 900 unterhaltsamen Seiten. Monaldi & Sorti - Altphilologin und Musikwissenschaftler - haben einmal mehr sorgfältig recherchiert, und der Leser wird Zeuge des Wienerischen Alltagslebens in barocker Zeit. Natürlich müssen wir uns auch diesmal wieder mit unzähligen Aufzählungen von Gepflogenheiten, Speißenfolgen und architektonischen Details beschäftigen. Das ist natürlich nicht jedermanns Geschmack und wird von vielen Kritikern auch als 'bildungsbürgerliche Onanie' bezeichnet. Vorneweg, 'Veritas' ist ein historischer Roman im Sinne des Wortes. Tatsächliche historische Begebenheiten werden mit fiktiven und zum Teil fantastischen Elementen vermengt. LeserInnen historischer Schmonzetten á la Noah Gordon oder Rebecca Gablé werden hier nicht viel zu Lachen haben. Das Buch richtet sich schon eher an einen Leser, der einen Autor vom Schlage Umberto Ecos wertzuschätzen vermag. Nicht umsonst hatte ich ja schon den ersten Roman der Reihe als 'Ecos Epigonen' bezeichnet. Aber trotzdem sollte man nicht Äpfel mit Birnen vergleichen. Interessante Tatsache ist zumindest, dass die Bücher von Monaldi & Sorti nicht in Italien, dem Heimatland der beiden Autoren verlegt werden. Tatsächlich regte sich starke Kritik seitens des Vatikans und der italienischen Verlage, deren Chronologie man hier nachlesen kann. Dies liegt darin begründet, dass die beiden Autoren interessante Tatsachen über einen barocken Papst Innozenz XI. (dessen Heiligsprechungsverfahren daraufhin eingestellt wurde) zu Tage förderten, dessen Familie in die unrühmliche Finanzierung protestantischer Mächte verstrickt war.

Aber zurück zum vorliegenden Buch. Lässt man einmal die fantastischen Elemente aus (ein 'fliegendes Schiff' mit StarTrek-ähnlicher Technologie und weitere barocke Wunderlichkeiten) haben Monaldi & Sorti ein ordentliches Stück Arbeit vorgelegt, dass sich am Besten lesen lässt, wenn man viel Zeit am Stück darin zu investieren vermag. Häppchenweise genossen verzettelt man sich in den opulenten Details und die Handlung schreitet nicht schnell genug voran, um durchgehend spannend zu bleiben. Dennoch haben die Autoren seit dem zweiten Band wieder etwas zugelegt und 'Veritas' ist ihnen durchaus besser geraten als das vorangegangene 'Secretum'. Zu bemängeln habe ich das unsägliche Pathos der letzten 100 Seiten mit dem Tod Joseph I., den letzten Lebensjahren Atto Melanis und dem 'dramatischen Verstummens' des Schornsteinfegers.

Literarische Cameos finden sich auch in diesem Band wieder - diesmal wird die Wiener Operettenwelt durch den Kakao gezogen. Angefangen mit der Horde der 'Bettelstudenten', die schon mal aus dem Operettenstaat 'Pontevedro' stammen und Lehars 'Die lustige Witwe' kolportieren, über 'Frosch', den Wächter der kaiserlichen Menagerie, der aus der 'Fledermaus' entliehen wurde. Letztendlich stößt der geneigte Leser auf eine (vermeintliche?) Weltverschwörung, deren haarsträubendes Wirken noch bis in die heutigen Tage anhält. Für viele mag das ja wirklich ein Stück zuviel sein (sic!) für einen 'harmlosen' historischen Roman. Aber....wir schreiben schließlich das Zeitalter des Barock. Üppigkeit und Schwülstigkeit zählen darin bis heute zu dessen stilbildenden Ausdrucksmitteln...

[Jeroen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting from a history point of view.
The storyline itself was not that good, very long build-up with a weak plot!

Their first book was the best.

[The Usual · Rating 3 out of 5]

The internet ate my review, so here it is again:

It's a chimaera, this one - a shifting, tricksy, protean beastie (and if you're interested in strict mythological accuracy then yes, I know, Proteus and the Chimaera are quite separate entities). Parts of Veritas are very good, most of it is very clever, and some of it is monumentally, infuriatingly, unforgivably daft. I like good, I like clever, and I have a high tolerance for daft but... as you may have gathered... It just doesn't hang together properly in this case. Sorry.

I mean, I'm not saying that you can't start out with a slow, richly detailed background of an early eighteenth century Vienna (and more on that in a moment), pile in the business with the flying ship, shift to what would, if you took your foot off the detail pedal for a moment, be a fast-paced thriller, and then throw in some Bond-villainesque, explain-the-conspiracy, mystical gubbins. I'm sure in some parallel universe somewhere, somebody has pulled it off flawlessly, it's just that it's a really, really big ask, both on the reader, and on the resourcefulness of the authors, and here, and now, it's a very nearly noble failure. The detail undermines the pace (which I personally can cope with); the rich solidity of the world-building... Can I call it world-building when that much research went into it...? Makes the fantasy elements seem massively jarring; the authors' decision to explain their eclectic blending of historical and fictional sources... Does that make sense? Could have been more elegantly phrased, I feel... makes it look less playful and more like showing off. To be blunt, if I can't recognise an only-the-names-have-been-changed theft from Henry V, I don't want you to tell me you've done it. If I don't spot it, now or in the future, then I don't deserve to.
And now to retract my claws, because Veritas, considered chunk by chunk, does have significant merits, and I'm not really as annoyed by it as the above might suggest. A touch irked, perhaps, in the way that... Look, the trouble with a mostly good book, as opposed to a mostly bad one, is that you can throw the latter at the wall and walk away with no regrets - I don't do that through an innate respect for property, and due to a bizarre combination of stubbornness, a desire to be fair to the author/s, and a version of the sunk value fallacy, but I could if I were that kind of person - whereas a book that is mostly good draws you in.
What was I saying? Oh well, doesn't matter.
Ah, yes, the good points.
Well, oddly perhaps, I've already mentioned some of them. There's that early eighteenth century Vienna - in fact there are two: the wealthy, well-fed, well organised capital that the narrator is determined to see, and the corrupt, rather ramshackle, spies-on-every-corner city that he actually portrays. Both are, unless I miss my mark completely, put together out of trustworthy research, untrustworthy research, and blatant anachronisms, but both are surprisingly convincing - and don't think that's all high culture, because it isn't.
There's the thriller element, which scatters bodies and red herrings across the Habsburg capital with gleeful abandon. I still maintain it's not a good fit with the Umberto Eco-ish stuff, but that's just personal taste.
There's the seemingly untrustworthy nature of the authors, the characters, and the narrator himself (because surely no-one is that naive. He seems to believe the last person to speak, and jump to the least probable conclusion on a regular basis).

So there we have it. Done.

[Alessia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Romanzo di cosiddetta “faction”, un mix di “facts” e “fiction”, cioè di storia vera e finzione. Al termine del libro si trova anche un’appendice di note storiche.
Sono stata una entusiasta lettrice di “Imprimatur”, libro “proibito” la cui vicenda e soprattutto quella dei due coniugi autori suscitava simpatia e solidarietà, libro decisamente ben scritto e che ci faceva immergere efficacemente nella Roma di fine Seicento.
Sono stata ancora più entusiasta di “Secretum“, il secondo libro della serie: trama ancora migliore, ancora più appassionante, tanto da far perdonare certe scivolate verso l’esoterico che, però, erano evidentemente solo un prodromo a ciò che sarebbe arrivato dopo.
Figuriamoci la mia attesa per il terzo libro, “Veritas“.
Il terzo capitolo delle avventure di Atto Melani e del "ragazzo" senza nome si rivela essere un passo indietro rispetto ai precedenti romanzi scritti dalla coppia Monaldi e Sorti. Sempre ottima la ricostruzione storica ma stavolta si eccede con la fantasia e la presunzione. La morte dell'imperatore Giuseppe I è un pretesto debole che costringe gli autori ad aggiungere carne al fuoco per tenere in piedi la storia. In particolare, la nave volante, con tanto di autopilota, mette a dura prova la sospensione dell'incredulità che, in un romanzo storico, non dovrebbe essere necessaria. Senza contare che resta un mistero la sua utilità all'interno della storia. La serie di omicidi è eccessivamente prevedibile e inutilmente brutale. Il colpevole viene svelato con un colpo di scena copiato da "I soliti sospetti". Mi è parso inoltre che la prosa sia più moderna che nei precedenti ma forse è solo una mia impressione, come lo sono le numerose ripetizioni degli stessi concetti.
Molto bella però l'ambientazione viennese. Gli autori si sono “dovuti” spostare da Roma a Vienna, esattamente come il narratore protagonista del romanzo. Inevitabile che “Veritas” sia anche un atto d’amore degli autori verso la città che li ha adottati, con tanto di continui confronti tra le due capitali, che possono riferirsi ugualmente bene all’oggi e dove la Città Eterna ne esce quasi sempre perdente. L’aspetto autobiografico è tale che il narratore protagonista, alla fine, dice che essendosi messo a scrivere i suoi ricordi li fa stampare nella tollerante Amsterdam, da uno stampatore che si chiama l’Ape Operosa. Che, guarda caso, è il nome dell’odierno editore olandese che per primo ripubblicò “Imprimatur” anche in italiano, dopo l’ostracismo avuto da Monaldi e Sorti nel nostro paese. Un gesto di gratitudine, da parte degli autori, pure simpatico.
Mi spiace scriverlo ma questa volta Monaldi e Sorti hanno toppato e non di poco. Veritas resta un thriller di pura fantasia, con un intreccio debole, supportato però, come sempre, da un'immensa documentazione.
trovo questo romanzo storico meno brillante dei precedenti per originalità della trama, caratterizzazione dei personaggi ed inventiva. Si gira e rigira intorno agli stessi protagonisti dei romanzi precedenti e la narrazione stenta a decollare. In alcuni passi la trattazione è troppo lenta per un romanzo di spionaggio ante litteram. Gli stessi colpi di scena, pur presenti, appaiono meno indovinati e stentano a ravvivare il racconto. Sempre comunque apprezzabile il linguaggio e lo stile.

[Martin Whittaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I ummed and ahhed a little bit on whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars, but I gave it a solid 4.
The husband and wife team who wrote this story are obviously brilliant historians, the highlight at the end is the copious historical notes atr the end when the authors reveal where all their ideas come from which includes a huge amount of research into 18th Century gazzeteers, chronicles, archival letters, it must have been a phenomenal about of work. This is novel...but the book has a BIBLIOGRAPHY! of several pages similar to what you'd find at the end of a dissertation!

The historical resear ch must have paid off though because you are really immersed into the world of Vienna and its diaspora at this time. You can smell the Armenian coffee shops, and hear the mattins being sung, you feel the atnosphere of the bustle of those streets of Vienna in the lomg past. In fact the book has inspired me to visit Vienna it got me so enthusiastic!

However the book is long reading and you have to be a fan of history books or WORLD BUILDING to love a book like this, its certainly not fast paced. The plot moves slowly and there is a huge amount of exposition about the Wars of Succession, Austrian history, Turks, philosophy, theology and a huge eclectic range of subjects which make it similar in its vibe to NAME OF THE ROSE. In fact it gets so deep into its facts that it almost seems neurodivergent in its ramblings and this sometimes deflects from the story, so I was thinking maybe it only deserves 3 stars...but then you realise all the history and exposition IS the story...

That said although the plot is slow, the characters are Dickensian and interesting, you get the old eccentric spy Atto, the mask changing likeble servant Simonis, the creepy relic collector Ugonio and the fiersome Dervish assasin Ciezeber, the story is interesting even though I never really knew where it was going, the pay off is fascinating and furthermore the style of this novel is ORIGINAL.
Anyway despite its strangeness it kept me reading and fascinated throughout and therefore I give it 4 stars!

[Myra Belacqua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Libro denso di dettagli storici e con una trama interessante. Purtroppo però ho dovuto smettere di leggerlo perché esageratamente lento e troppo concentrato a dare spiegazioni di natura storica piuttosto che concentrarsi sull'evoluzione dei personaggi. La focalizzazione è strana: il maestro di Atto che narra ad Atto stesso, anni dopo, le vicende vissute. Una scelta narrativa del genere è faticosa da seguire, è poco fluida e non si comprende appieno il motivo per cui gli autori l'abbiano scelta. Peccato, i libri precedenti, benché pesanti e dettagliati, erano comunque avvicenti sin dalle prime pagine.

[D.G. Rampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply, I love this series. This last book has more of a crime/thriller feel to it and is darker. I can't say I walked away at the end of it with a warm and fuzzy sense of optimism. However, the story is based on historical fact so it would have been misleading to do otherwise. A great many philosophical and moral questions are thrown at the reader, and, in some cases, the answers are yet to land. The whole series is a must read.

[Alessandro Nicolai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superlativo come tutti gli altri di Monaldi e Sorti, ma questa volta con qualcosa in più, cede al giallo storico mantenendo viva la curiosità pur nella rigorosa aderenza ai fatti che anche se sembrano fantastici restano veri e storicamemte dimostrati, geni che rendono affasciante la ricerca storica

[Marc Tiefenthal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iemand stelt in een bespreking van dit boek dat dit duo de uitvinder van het genre, Umberto Eco, overtreft. Dat is niet overdreven. Een lijvig boek alweer, met heel veel historische verwijzingen en met op het einde een relaas van hun onderzoekingen.

[Paolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Veritas 6.5 - bella la descrizione di Vienna e della vita quotidiana. Intreccio non da ricordare ma come sempre aneddoti e racconti di Storia con le S maiuscola. Forse troppo lungo anche se la seconda parte ha una sua logica  di azione. Storico

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike everything I’ve ever read. You open and start reading and immediately step back in time. All the details make you believe you can almost see and touch everything happening in te book. Also it gives you a great insight on how things used to go in the past. Loved it!

[Bert Pauwels · Rating 5 out of 5]

De ganse reeks lezen!! Einde 17e en 18e eeuw juist gesitueerd , een wereld die toen ook al “klein” was ... mega!

[Serhii · Rating 2 out of 5]

Прочитано 200ст. Можливо в майбутньому дочитає

[Antonio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante libro plagado de anécdotas históricas. Se hace un poco denso en las descripciones de los usos y costumbres de la antigua Viena.

[Talin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Turns out to be a conspiracy theory. Weak plot. Too much redundancy and nationalist prejudice.

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the change of setting of this third installment but there wasn't really a satisfactory conclusion and even more added bunkum in this than usual, and the notes at the end again back up their wild conspiracy theories as 'verified' fact, yet if such evidence existed why are two obscure Italians the only ones to find it - plus a load of anti-vaccination worthy of pinhead Jenny McCarthy.

[Marylene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as surprising as the two first books but I enjoyed tremendously.
For those familiar with Monaldi and Sorti's books you will rejoice at finding your favorite character(s) again, this time set in Vienna under the benevolent rule of Joseph 1st and under the watchful gaze of a flying ship and the Neugebäude Palace.
Again, secrets are not what you think they are...

[Ria]

Veritas by Rita Monaldi (2006)

[Rudi · Rating 1 out of 5]

een teleurstelling na de eerdere boeken van Monaldi & Sorti. Fantasie vermengd met saaie beschrijvingen.

[Harry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as their previous two books. Nonsense interspersed with historic facts. Couldn't wait to get it finished.

[Aleid Drexhage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice historical novel, many details

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Derde deel van de serie en en weerom leuk om te lezen ...