Maria Bellonci made her debut as a writer in 1939 with a prize-winning biography of Lucrezia Borgia -- still in print and still one of the best books on the subject. Her work was marked by meticulous research and dedication to seeking out primary source documents from libraries and other institutions. She and her husband hosted a literary salon and created the Strega Prize for Italian literature with Guido Alberti in 1947. Maria Bellonci won this prize herself in 1986 with Private Renaissance, her novel about Isabella d'Este.
