Memento Vivere

❖ The Basics ❖

❖ Character Name: Antonio Capello
❖ Nick Names: Cappi; Anton;
❖ Titles/Occupation: Consigliera Ducali
❖ Character Age: thirty-two
❖ Character Gender: Male


❖ Appearance ❖

Antonio is a healthy male of 32 years, standing tall at 188 cm (6’2”) and weighs in at a slim yet muscled 83kg (183 lbs). The mysteriously attractive man has eyes of blue and dark hair, so full of dignity as to compel respect... Taller and more ruggedly handsome for the average man, Antonio is regarded as handsome and even considered at times to be a "golden boy". At some point, he is chosen by Botticelli as a model for his painting of Mars and Venus. Even Antonio's close friend, Niccolo Valori, described him as comely, saying, "nature had been a mother to him in regards to his personal appearance, acting as a loving mother sharing her son with mankind."


❖ Personality ❖

With a competitive mentality, Antonio, from a very young age, was good at virtually everything he attempted. Even in his early childhood, Antonio demonstrated unusual intelligence, good taste, curiosity and remarkable memory, all of which was accompanied by a healthy dose of wit, an unusual trait held by few Venetians, even to the adeptness able to cause angst among his counterparts.

As an adult, he is able to command a charming, and oft magnetic, personality; thus despite his age, his animated and enthusiastic with a joyful nature that makes him enormously popular with certain crowds, and distrusted and hated in others. He can be rough, strong, and sensitive; his main focus being in charge and in control. An educated man of the patrizi, he too learned to play the lyre and sing, and discovered a love for poetry and the arts. Oddly, as part of that charm he holds, he is equally adept at composing philosophical verses and obscene rhymes to be sung at Carnival.

One thing that can be depressing is Antonio’s mysterious, or magical, power to attract... woman or man... But his love of the ladies, regardless of social class could often get him in trouble, if he gave in to their presumptions. Knowing that a man's physical attractiveness and charm have a strong impact on women's preferences, he is quick and perceptive, and is cautious not to cause the husbands or suitors to be jealous of him.

A man of strength, not only of mind but body, he is able to defend himself, or others, should he choose to. But what the general populace does not know is his ability to fight, with fists, swords, or pistols.


❖ Likes ❖

❖ Carnivale;
❖ the ladies... disregarding social class;
❖ wine, especially the expensive kind;
❖ playing mental games with his counterparts;


❖ Dislikes ❖

❖ The Commerciante (Merchants) arrogance;
❖ greedy and ill-quipped councilors...;
❖ being so tall;



❖ Skills ❖

❖ competitive mentality;
❖ healthy dose of wit;
❖ plays the lyre and sings;
❖ use of sword and dagger;
❖ multiple languages;


❖ Strengths ❖

❖ devious and oft cruel in his business ventures;
❖ able to defend himself;
❖ charm, and a smooth bass-baritone voice;
❖ remarkable memory;


❖ Weakness ❖

❖ The ladies, regardless of the social class;
❖ competitive mentality;
❖ devious and oft cruel in his business ventures;




❖ Lovers ❖ --- Yes; as often as possible; but I do not kiss and tell;

❖ Spouse ❖ --- None yet; He is unsure of marriage, love versus profit and stability; Maybe someday he will meet someone who will decide for him;

❖ Children ❖ --- None that I know of... but someday, as head of family, and expected to have issue;


❖ Extended Family ❖

❖ FATHER: (deceased) Giovanni Cappello, Procuratore di San Marco, Venezia; (b. 1517 - d. 1572, (age 55 of influenza); married Francesca in 1539 (age 22);
❖ MOTHER: (deceased) Francesca Ronzani, of the famous Familia Ronzani landholders of Verona; (b. 1523 - d. 1572, (age 39) of influenza); married Giovanni (age 16), 1539;
❖ SIBLINGS:

❖ Allies ❖

❖ The Medici of Florence;
❖ Giovanni Morosini, merchant elite;
❖ Prominent members of the Kingdom of Naples;
❖ Senatore (4 special people);
❖ Council of Ten (2 special people);
❖ Lucca Arcasian;


❖ Enemies ❖

❖ Patrons of Genoa;
❖ Corazzieri;
❖Provveditore d'Armata (Superintendent of the Fleet);


Born on 25 April 1542, in Sestiere San Castello, to Giovanni Cappello, Procuratore di San Marco, Venezia, and Francesca Ronzani, of the famous Familia Ronzani landholders of Verona;

Familia Cappello are a Venetian patrician family, counted among the so-called New Houses. The original members of the family would have come to Venice from Capua in the year 900, while others notaries would have them descend from a family of Roman patricians who had fled from southern Italy at the time of the Saracen raids. This Family is traditionally attributed to the construction of the church of Santa Maria Mater Domini, in the Sestiere Santa Croce, originally erected, around 960, as a female monastery dedicated to Santa Cristina. Present in Maggior Consiglio before the lockout, they remained there even after 1297.

Born into privilege, Antonio had all the benefits of a Renaissance education, and very enlightened; but determined to use his considerable power and influence to change the world for the better. Many have said that he has, and continues to, “do bad to do good” .

Shunning the capacity to be a leading statesman, he retains himself as a cunning and ruthless political operative; a businessman fashioned after his own ruthless Father. Bitter rivalries among some leading Venetian families and competition among the squabbling Italian states means that Antonio's life had always been under constant threat. On the foreign policy front, Antonio manifests a clear path to stem the territorial ambitions of the Popes, in the name of the balance of the Republic and her Allies. For these reasons, Antonio was the subject of attempted assassinations, which he was able to avert and garner retribution on the perpetrators. Against all odds, he has managed not only to survive, but also presides over the Cappello family, making it one of the most energetic and industrious families of Venezia.

Venezia is, and has been for a long time, a city of contrasts, of unparalleled brilliance in the world trade market and yet with unnoticeable squalor in the city's crowded tenements; of both pagan excess and the fire-and-brimstone sermons of the Dominican preacher Savonarola. Knowing this, and being a patron of scholars, artists, and poets, he has held the hidden reins of power inside the Venetian Republic, and helps ushering in the new Golden Age of Venezia, as the Queen of the Seas is regaining her hold on the Mediterranean Sea and breaking out into the Atlantic.

Antonio, groomed for power, finally has assumed a leading role in Familia Cappello, upon the death of his father in 1572, when he was 30. He manages the vast Family fortunes, in coin, real estate, and business ventures, indirectly through surrogates in the Republic by means of payoffs and strategic marriages.