Fairfield University alumna Donna Gillotte '00  comes home to the Fairfield University Bookstore, 1499 Post Road, Fairfield, to discuss her new book, "Secret of a Medici Mistress," at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2, 2013. The event is free and open to the public.

Gillotte brings the golden age of the Italian Renaissance alive with her meticulously researched and beautifully written novel. Filled with extraordinary historical characters, "Secret of a Medici Mistress" is a love story that explores the nature of human good and evil among the celebrated Medici family and the artists they supported.

Prior to beginning a career in writing and art history, Gillotte was a successful business consultant and entrepreneur. In 1995, she returned to Fairfield University to complete a business degree, but quickly changed her major to art history after taking an art survey course. It was during the summer of 1995, while she attended international studies at the Lorenzo de Medici Institute for Art and Culture in Florence, Italy, that Gillotte began thinking about the thrilling storyline for her first novel. She graduated magna cum laude in 2000.

Gillotte earned a master's degree in art history from Syracuse University and traveled extensively in Italy to research her book. She is a former adjunct professor of art history at Southern Connecticut State University and the University of New Haven. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Hastings, ehastings@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4000, ext. 2688.

Posted On: 03-19-2013 11:03 AM

Volume: 45 Number: 227