That’s the framework author Phil Melanson offers in “Florenzer,” his debut novel that mixes Renaissance politics, intimate emotional truths, and the messy realities of art, commerce, and survival.
What sets “Florenzer” apart is that it’s rooted in historical documents, actual physical evidence linking da Vinci to a male sex worker. Using that concrete connection, Melanson imagines da Vinci’s 1476 sodomy accusation and its impact on the artist and the man.
The book is already making waves. Kirkus Reviews called “Florenzer” “well-researched, proudly lusty historical fiction,” and those Kirkus guys never use words like “lusty.”
In St. Petersburg, Melanson will appear in conversation with writer and professor Tyler Gillespie (“The Thing About Florida: Exploring a Misunderstood State”) this month in St. Petersburg. Before the event, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay caught up with him to talk about queerness, creativity, the state of book bans, and how the late Pope Francis helped inspire the novel’s title.
There’s no cover, but RSVPs are requested, for “Florenzer” An Evening with Phil Melanson happening Friday, June 20 at Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg.
Melanson also appears at The Lynx Books in Gainesville (June 19) and Books & Books in Coral Gables (June 21).
Can I start by saying thank you? I’m always grateful to somebody who braves the Florida book circuit to bring us culture from the Metropol.
When I was speaking with the publicity team, they asked if there were any bookstores on my radar that I’d love to go to. The Lynx Books in Gainesville immediately came to mind. I’ve been following their story in London for years. I feel lucky to be able to go there. It’s a bit of a dream come true for me.
That means a lot. There’s this narrative: “Just cut off Florida and be done with it.” And it’s not helpful.
I think that’s such an ugly rhetoric. There are people here who don’t agree with what’s happening at the state house. I think we need to show up and support those who are doing the work, people like Lauren [Groff] and the indie bookstores fighting bans. We need to be in solidarity.
I’m curious about what drew you to da Vinci and were there other figures you considered?
I knew I wanted to write a novel about the relationship between art and commerce during the Renaissance. It was a relationship based on power and the exchange of funds…who could access that power and who had the approval of those in charge. I arrived at Da Vinci somewhat reluctantly, because he’s probably the most famous artist of all time. But in reading his biographies, and others from that era, I was struck by how unsuccessful he was early on compared to peers like Botticelli. That raised the question of why.
And then there’s the often overlooked aspect of his personal relationships and his sexuality. There are surviving historical records—ones I’ve held in the Florence state archives—that connect him to a male sex worker. These suggest he may have been what we’d now call queer, even if that term doesn’t quite fit the Renaissance context. I became fascinated by what it meant to be accused of sodomy in Florence in 1476. Historians focus on what we know for sure, but as a novelist, the potential lies in what we can’t know…the emotional experience, the interiority, and the idea of inspiration. What led him to create the masterpieces we still see today?
What is your relationship with fine art before this?
Extremely limited. I didn’t study art history at university. I never even took an art history class, if I’m being honest. But I think that actually helped. There’s so much reverence in traditional scholarship, and I approached the Renaissance with curiosity.
You make a case that part of why he wasn’t successful early on was due to being ostracized. Is that part of what unfolds?
It’s set up very early in the novel that Leonardo is constantly trying to balance two sides of himself; his personal, sexual desires and his public identity as a painter, artist, and inventor.
Let’s talk about the title. How did you land on ‘Florenzer’?
It wasn’t the original title. We only decided on it about a year before publication. And I have to give credit, oddly enough, to the late Pope Francis. Last spring, there were stories that he used a very specific gay slur in Italian. That got me thinking about reclaiming slurs and embedding that complexity into the novel. “Florenzer” is a German slang term from the Renaissance. It came from Florence’s reputation as a magnet for men who would now be described as queer, though they were labeled sodomites at the time. The term appears halfway through the book, and it captures both the tone and historical tension of the story.
What was it like transitioning into a project like this?
I studied screenwriting in film school, so the marketing side was really the detour. I spent the better part of a decade there. Eventually, I felt the pull to get back to storytelling, back to the page. I knew this novel couldn’t exist as a script. I wanted interiority, which is hard to render on screen. But the marketing experience did help me understand how this novel might be positioned. I also had to unlearn a lot, like worrying about who would read it or how it would be received.
Email voice is hard to unlearn.
Absolutely. I went from working in an office full time to writing full time. I could see it in my drafts, especially the passive voice.
Well, your marketing work speaks for itself. Mamma Mia! was everywhere. That was a conga line of a marketing campaign.
That was a joy of a campaign. A conga line of a film.
Do you have any favorite “bad” ones you worked on?
I worked on more than one “Purge” movie. Not exactly my cup of tea.
What’s it like to be here talking about these issues of queer identity, commerce in the art world, during Pride? I know it’s your debut, too.
When we were planning the tour, I thought it was important not to just hit the standard cities like New York, L.A., Boston, or Chicago. I grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, and before that, Nebraska. I didn’t have independent bookstores around me. So it felt essential to visit places where the fundamentals of queer existence are being challenged. The more writers show up here, the more a queer kid in Florida might feel seen and less alone.
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This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2025.