Have you ever heard of Luca Pacioli?

Hai mai sentito parlare di Luca Pacioli?

L’altro giorno mi sono imbattuta in un romanzo scritto da W.A.W. Parker su Luca Pacioli intitolato: “The Divine Proportions of Luca Pacioli.”

The other day, I came across a novel written by W.A.W. Parker about Luca Pacioli called “The Divine Proportions of Luca Pacioli.”


Si scopre che era un matematico vissuto durante il primo Rinascimento in Italia. Ho pensato—perfetto! L’argomento e i personaggi storici trattati in questo libro erano proprio nelle mie corde. Come autrice di tre romanzi ambientati nello stesso periodo, non vedevo l’ora di immergermi nella storia. Anche se sono appassionata di arte e storia, devo ammettere che la matematica non è mai stata il mio punto forte… eppure, ho trovato questo romanzo davvero coinvolgente!

It turns out he was a mathematician who lived during the early Renaissance in Italy. I thought to myself—perfect! The subject and historical figures featured in this book were right up my alley. As an author of three novels set in the same period, I couldn’t wait to dive into the story. While I’m passionate about art and history, I must admit math has never been my strong suit… yet, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this novel!

La storia è raccontata con chiarezza e fascino, immergendoti nelle riflessioni del protagonista dal suo letto di morte. L’autore dà vita a Luca e ai suoi affascinanti incontri con una scrittura fluida e coinvolgente che mi ha tenuto incollata, persino durante le sue disquisizioni matematiche!

The story is told with clarity and charm, immersing you in the protagonist’s reflections from his deathbed. The author vividly brings Luca and his fascinating encounters to life with seamless, engaging writing that kept me captivated, even through his mathematical musings!

Mi è piaciuto così tanto il libro che ho contattato W.A.W Parker e gli ho chiesto se gli sarebbe piaciuto scrivere un post sul suo nuovo romanzo e sono flice che abbia accettato.

I enjoyed the book so much I reached out to W.A.W Parker and asked if he’d like to write a guest post about his new novel, and I’m delighted he accepted.

Ecco il signor Parker per raccontarci un po’ di più su Luca Pacioli.

Now here is Mr. Parker to tell us a little more about Luca Pacioli.

Born into meager circumstances, Luca Pacioli pretty much encapsulates the possibility and promise of the Renaissance.

He may not be a flashy name (most people who have heard of him are accountants because he codified the double-entry bookkeeping method), but he helped form the backbone of the Renaissance by bringing the combined knowledge of his age to the masses. He wrote books about mathematics, chess, and the divine proportion (which we know now as the golden ratio). And he wrote in the common tongue (High Renaissance Italian) instead of Latin (the language of academia at the time) so that everyone could understand him, and be a part of the greatest discoveries of their day.

I had to fictionalize much of his childhood, which allowed me to explore Italian history and imagine events that shaped him, like witnessing the Battle of the Stones—a game where people hurled rocks at each other in a field.

In Luca’s town, a bean was placed in a box for every birth—black for boys, white for girls—but none were removed when someone died. To young Luca, this flawed system was maddening: it tracked births without accounting for deaths. This lack of balance foreshadowed Luca’s later work codifying double-entry bookkeeping.

Probably my favorite scene to write, though, was one with Leonardo da Vinci. Later in life, Luca and Leonardo both leave Milan together after the French invade. They flee to Mantua and to stay with the Marchesa Isabella d’Este, who teaches them Queen’s Chess, a new, faster version of chess. “A la rabiosa,” they called it, which means: to the rabid. It was a new style of chess that just so happens to be the version we know in the West today. (In China they still play by the old rules) In this version, the queen (formerly a vizier, an advisor to the king) is much more powerful, meaning games are much less likely to end in a draw.

I loved writing the scene where Isabella d’Este basically schools Luca and Leonardo da Vinci in the new rules of chess, and then proceeds to dominate them in a game, showing how deft and skilled a woman can be when she’s given power.

Of note: There’s an Easter egg involving the Fibonacci sequence in the novel, and I will personally give $112.35 to the first person to figure it out, and also why it’s an Easter egg (the why is important!) If you know why it’s that specific amount, you already have a leg up on the competition.

Grazie to W.A.W. Parker per avere partecipato nel blog!

Big thanks to the author of “The Divine Proportions of Luca Pacioli” for participating on the blog!

You can find “The Divine Proportions of Luca Pacioli”
on Amazon by clicking on the links below.

The Divine Proportions of Luca Pacioli on Amazon

Podcast about Luca Pacioli

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