The Birth of Venus

Alessandra Cecchi is fifteen when her father brings a young painter to decorate the walls of the family chapel.  Enthralled by him and his work, she is upset when her parents arrange her marriage to a much older man.  Played out amongst the turbulent background of Renaissance Florence, the conflicts of the time become apparent as the luxurious Medici state clashes with the suppression of a fundamentalist monk named Savonarola.