In early 1514, an eager audience gathered in the small central Italian town of Tarquinia, once a powerful Etruscan city. They stormed into the town’s local inn. Those unable to find room inside clambered onto the roof or perched atop neighboring buildings. They were all desperate to get a look at something special, something they had never seen before, desperate enough that the inn’s roof collapsed under their weight, and the “something special” was forced to spend the night in the piazza’s open air. They were there to see Hanno,…
