Monaldi & Sorti

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Rita Monaldi (* 1966) and Francesco P. Sorti (* 1964) are an Italian couple who write historical novels together. You live in Vienna .

Lettering of the authors on the bound edition of Imprimatur (Claassen Verlag)

the authors

Rita Monaldi is an Italian journalist who graduated in Classical Philology and specialized in the history of religions. She worked as a journalist for a few years until she met Francesco and began to research with him for ten years for her first book, Imprimatur .

Francesco Sorti is an Italian journalist with a degree in musicology, with a passion for the Baroque period and specializing in the 17th century . He also worked as a journalist for a number of years before he began researching her book series with his wife.

Controversies about imprimatur and exile

Book cover of the bound German edition of Imprimatur
Book cover of the bound German edition of Veritas
Book cover of the bound German edition of Secretum

The two authors are currently working on a seven-part book series, the respective book titles of which, according to their own statements, quote Imprimatur secretum, veritas mysterium. Unicum… (translated: Even when a secret is made public, the truth remains a mystery. Alone… ) follow, whereby the last two words (and thus the book title) are always left out. This plays Atto Melani (* 1626, † 1714), Italian castrato, diplomat, writer and spy of the Sun King Louis XIV. , One of the central figures. The first three parts have already been published.

During their years of research for the first part, Imprimatur , they found a text Melanis to Louis XIV, which was published under the title The Secrets of the Conclaves and the Vices of the Cardinals ( ISBN 3-608-93737-4 ). One of the key discoveries made by the two authors was the connections between Pope Innocent XI. and Wilhelm III. (also William of Orange), in which the former supported the Protestant William in the war against the Sun King Louis XIV and the English King James II (also James II), a well-established Catholic. The publication of the first book, in which these connections were described and documented, was also very close to the process of the canonization of Innocent XI, which was interrupted by the publication of the book, as this was due to the financial support of Wilhelm III. strengthened the Protestant faith in England and greatly weakened the Catholic faith.

Since these and other discoveries by the two authors were published in the books, there was strong criticism from members of the Catholic Church, who, according to the two authors, were also largely responsible for the fact that their first work Imprimatur after the 1st edition of 15,000 copies was in the Verlag Mondadori was not reprinted, although both readers and the authors themselves expressed great interest in a further edition. There was, however, no new edition of the book, despite ranking 4 in the Italian bestseller list, which Francesco Sorti justified with the fact that “we probably upset a high priest in the Vatican, but we don't know who, after that nobody wanted to have anything to do with us [ …] “ (“ Evidently we managed to upset someone senior in the Vatican, we do not know who, and after that no one would deal with us […] ”, Francesco Sorti in an interview with the Daily Telegraph) This was confirmed by a journalist the RAI ( Radiotelevisione Italiana ) in an anonymous interview, in the course of which he called the book a taboo in Italy .

After publication, the two authors also had great difficulties in regaining the rights to their own book from the publisher in order to have it reprinted in self-chosen exile, which taught them not to give up the rights to their books in the future. In the interview with the British Daily Telegraph , Monaldi and her husband continued to give these connections between Innocent XI. and Wilhelm III. as the trigger for the apparent boycott of their book in Italy. They also got to feel the aversion and negative attitude of the Catholic Church and the population on a large scale, whereby they were even referred to as criminals. They then chose to go to exile in Vienna, from where they were able to publish Imprimatur in Italian again after four years with the Dutch publisher De Bezige Bij , albeit with the self-imposed restriction that the book was only sold on the Internet or in Italian bookshops outside Italy.

A spokesman for the Vatican commented on the book's ban on publication, "that it is strange that they accuse us of conspiracy. If your historical novel sold 15,000 copies in Italy, you should be happy. These are exceptionally good numbers for a kind of book. " (" It seems strange that they would accuse us of conspiracy. Certainly, if their historical novel has managed to sell 15,000 copies in Italy, they should be happy. This is a good figure for that type of book. ”)

Mondadori publisher disagreed with the book's sales through a representative, saying “that we [the publisher] are the Italian publishers of Dan Brown's works , which have been much more difficult to publish; whereby I come to the conclusion that we were not concerned by the assumptions in this book. ” (“ We are the Italian publishers of Dan Brown [the author of The Da Vinci Code], which was much harder to release, so I don 't think we would have been troubled by the suggestions in this book. ”)

Works

not yet published in German. It is the counterpart to the novel "Mysterium of Time".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Weltexpress : "Why two Italians have to and want to live in exile in Vienna because of their books" (The Atto Melani series: criminal history novels by Monaldi & Sorti (part 1/7))
  2. ↑ a b c d e Telegraph.co.uk : "Vatican forced us out of Italy, claim authors" (English)
  3. ↑ AttoMelani.net : The Boycott Chronology: When a publisher works against his authors ... (English)