Claudia Auditore da Firenze

Claudia Auditore da Firenze (January 2, 1461 - 16th century) was a Florentine noblewoman during the Italian Renaissance, and a member of the Assassin Order. She was the sister of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who became the Mentor of the Italian Assassins.

In 1476, Claudia became the financial accountant of the town of Monteriggioni, which was under the leadership of her uncle Mario Auditore. The town flourished under Claudia's organization and the revenue made from Monteriggioni's previously abandoned shops and organizations, redeveloped by her brother Ezio.

In January 1500, Monteriggioni was besieged and largely destroyed by the Borgia under command of Cesare Borgia, and the Auditore were left homeless. Against her brother's desire for Claudia and her mother Maria to go to their hometown of Florence, Claudia and Maria followed him to the Borgia's headquarters of Rome, where Claudia became the madam of the Rosa in Fiore, the city's most popular brothel. Eventually, after proving herself to be a worthy fighter to her brother, Ezio inducted Claudia into the Order of Assassins. The following year, Claudia was captured by Borgia die-hards, and eventually saved by Ezio and Niccolò Machiavelli. She stepped down as madam of the Rosa in Fiore, and stayed in Florence with her friend Paola to recover until 1507.

Claudia was given temporary control of the Italian Assassins in 1510, when her brother left on a journey to the Middle East to find the library of the legendary Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad in Masyaf. She held this position until her brother returned in late 1512, after which Ezio resigned from the Order and assigned a successor.

Early life
Claudia was born on the 2nd of January, 1461 in the city of Florence, as the daughter of the Florentine banker Giovanni Auditore da Firenze and his wife Maria. She had two elder brothers, Federico and Ezio, and a young brother called Petruccio.

As of 1476, Claudia was betrothed to Duccio de Luca, a member of another noble Florentine family. Eventually, Claudia was told rumors of Duccio's adulterous actions, and her brother Ezio noticed her sadness over this. On Claudia's behalf, Ezio went to see Duccio, confirming the rumors and beating him up in a fight. After this, the relationship between Claudia and Duccio ended.

A few days later, their home - the Palazzo Auditore - was attacked by Pazzi guards. The guards arrested Giovanni, Federico and Petruccio, and left Maria in shock. Claudia and the Auditore housemaid Annetta took Maria and hid themselves in the Palazzo, until Ezio arrived to find their home in chaos. Annetta took Claudia and Maria to her sister Paola's home, while Ezio went to the Palazzo della Signoria to find their father and brothers.

Despite Ezio's efforts, Giovanni, Federico and Petruccio were executed on false accusations of treason by the Florentine Gonfaloniere Uberto Alberti, working for Rodrigo Borgia - the Grand Master of the Templar Order. Claudia and Maria resided safely in Paola's home, which turned out to be a brothel, while Ezio exacted revenge on Uberto Alberti - which became the stepping stone to his eventual induction into the Order of Assassins, which their father was secretly a part of.

Living in Monteriggioni
"Since SOMEONE decided we're going to stay here, Zio Mario suggested we try and find the money to repair the villa."

- Claudia, about Mario making her run Monteriggioni's finances.

After Ezio was successful in his objective, Claudia and Maria were taken by him to travel with him to Monteriggioni, where their uncle Mario Auditore owned a villa. Successfully fleeing the city, they traveled through the Tuscan countryside, until they were ambushed by Ezio's rival Vieri de' Pazzi near Monteriggioni. Ezio, trying to fend off Vieri's men, was eventually joined by their uncle Mario, who rescued them and led them into the town. Showing them around the city, Ezio made clear to Claudia that they were only staying there temporarily, and Ezio planned to travel further west to Spain.

Ezio was eventually persuaded by his uncle Mario to finish his father's work in the Assassin Order, and he decided to stay in the Villa Auditore, to Claudia's displeasure. Some time later, Mario told Claudia to keep track off Monteriggioni's finances in a record book, which infuriated Claudia, who was used to a luxurious lifestyle. Over time, Claudia got used to her new job, but missed Ezio while he was journeying around Italy to take down the Templars.

During Ezio's journey, Ezio occasionally returned to Monteriggioni with finances for rebuilding the town, and with Claudia's organization skills, the town sprung back to life again and became more populated. Claudia also married Mario's captain, and in 1488 was pregnant with his child.

On 1 January 1500, Claudia's brother and uncle returned from their journey to Rome to kill Rodrigo Borgia, who had become Pope Alexander VI. Upon reuniting with Ezio, Claudia asked him if the Spaniard, Rodrigo Borgia, was finally dead, though he declined to answer straight away. The town was already making preparations for Claudia's birthday the next day, though Claudia wished to keep the party a secret from her brother, in order to surprise him. Later the same day, Claudia joined Ezio, Maria, Mario, Niccolò Machiavelli and Caterina Sforza in Mario's study, where Ezio told about his eventual choice to spare Rodrigo's life and his discovery in the vault underneath the Vatican - a projection of Minerva, a member of the First Civilization.

The following morning, on Claudia's birthday, Monteriggioni was besieged by the Borgia, under the command of Rodrigo's son Cesare, Captain General of the Papal army. Claudia secured her mother and several other villagers in the sanctuary underneath her villa, but was found and attacked by Borgia soldiers upon leaving the villa. She was saved by her heavily-wounded brother, who led the survivors through a secret passage underneath Monteriggioni. Upon arriving safely outside, Ezio informed Claudia and Maria that Cesare killed Mario, and told them to go to Florence. However, they both wished to aid Ezio, and they secretly followed him to Rome, the heart of Borgia and Templar power.

Leading the Roman courtesans
Claudia and Maria made their way to the Assassin headquarters on Tiber Island in Rome, where they met with Machiavelli. Machiavelli suspected Ezio to be visiting the courtesans at the Rosa in Fiore, and redirected the woman to the brothel.

Conversing with the courtesans, Claudia and Maria were joined by Ezio, who had just come back from a failed attempt to save the brothel's owner Madonna Solari, from slave traders. Without anyone to lead the courtesans, Claudia offered to take over the ownership of the brothel, much to Ezio's dissatisfaction. On Maria's request, Ezio agreed, and Claudia and her courtesans started retrieving intelligence for the Assassin Order from the Borgia, beginning to attain information on the location of Caterina Sforza. Meeting with Ezio and the other guild leaders at the Assassin hideout with the necessary information, the Assassins decided that their next step was to assassinate Rodrigo and Cesare Borgia.

Claudia continued to lead the courtesans for the coming years, and in 1503 she joined the Assassins at the hideout again, where she revealed that a senator named Egidio Troche was closely related with Cesare's "Banker". Claudia pointed Ezio in the senator's direction, and set her courtesans to follow Ezio when he went to assassinate the Banker, taking his money with them to the Rosa in Fiore. However, these courtesans were followed by Borgia guards, and they infiltrated the brothel. Claudia armed herself with a knife, and single-handedly took out all the guards, right before Ezio entered the brothel in hopes of saving her. Ezio was amazed by Claudia's efforts, and in August 1503, he called Claudia to the hideout again.

Entering the ceremony hall, Ezio inducted Claudia into the Assassin Order in the presence of the other Assassins, while Ezio himself was promoted to Mentor and leader of the Italian Assassins. Claudia proceeded to perform a Leap of Faith into the Tiber river from the top of the hideout.

Ezio infiltrated the Castel Sant'Angelo soon afterwards, aiming to kill Rodrigo and Cesare. To his astonishment, Ezio witnessed Cesare kill Rodrigo with a poisoned apple, and without his father's power in the Church, Cesare saw his control over Rome weaken immensely. Claudia informed Ezio that a French cardinal, Georges d'Amboise, revealed that he was to meet with Cesare soon, and Ezio left to interrupt the meeting. Claudia joined Ezio, Machiavelli, La Volpe and Bartolomeo d'Alviano in defeating the last of Cesare's supporters, and witnessed his arrest at the hands of Fabio Orsini and the Papal Guard.

The next year, Maria grew weak and started talking of Giovanni, Federico and Petruccio again. Some time later, Maria died due to illness. Claudia was left in sole control of the courtesans, but the same year she was captured by a group of Borgia remnants, led by a Templar spy named Bruno. Bruno pretended to work for Machiavelli, and directed both him and Ezio to where Claudia was being held captive, saying it was a secret Templar hideout. Claudia, held by ropes, saw her clothes get ripped off by one of the Templars when Ezio and Machiavelli joined them, and her breast was cut. Machiavelli and Ezio were able to overcome the guards and rescue Claudia, but she eventually chose to resign as the madam of the Rosa in Fiore. Claudia left for Florence, where she stayed with Paola to recover from the ferocious Templar attack. La Volpe arranged for Rosa, a Venetian thief, to replace her as madam.

Serving the Assassins
"It's true. This job wears one out. The Blessed Mother knows, I've only been doing it in your stead for two short years, but I have come to realize what you have been carrying on your shoulders for so long."

- Claudia about the hardship of temporarily leading the Assassins.

Ezio continued to chase after Cesare, and eventually managed to kill the Templar Grand Master during the Siege of Viana in 1507. Returning to Rome from Spain, Ezio asked Machiavelli to send Claudia back to Rome as soon as he would reach Florence. Claudia returned to Rome some time later, having grown to love the city more than her home of Florence.

Claudia continued to serve the Assassins, acting as an advisor to Ezio. In 1510, Ezio discovered a letter from their father, which detailed the location of Masyaf's library of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, the Mentor of the Levantine Assassins and one of the most legendary Assassins of the Order. Though not showing the letter to Claudia, Ezio revealed that he aimed to travel to Masyaf in hopes of finding the library. Wishing Ezio luck on his journey and asking him to write to her occasionally, Claudia was temporarily left in control of the Italian Assassin Brotherhood. Occasionally, Claudia received letters from her brother, which detailed the progress of his journey, which eventually led him to Constantinople, and the feelings he started to have for a Venetian woman named Sofia Sartor.

In Ezio's absence, Claudia faced the problem of Pope Julius II's declining health, which troubled the Assassins due to Julius having long been their protector. Additionally, she received a letter from Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutch scholar and the leader of the Northern European Assassins.

In late 1512, Ezio returned to Rome with Sofia, who had become his wife after marrying in Venice. Claudia revealed to him the good news of Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, son of Ezio's late friend and ally Lorenzo de' Medici, being close to the Papacy, and showed him Erasmus' letter. Additionally, she congratulated Ezio on his marriage, approving of his wife, "even if she [was] a Venetian." Ezio, having decided to resign from the Order, revealed that he chose Lodovico Ariosto as his successor as Mentor. Claudia, pointing out Ariosto's relationship to Alfonso d'Este and his wife Lucrezia Borgia, heavily protested against this, and was even more infuriated upon hearing of Ezio's desire to build his own vineyard and to start writing.

Later life
Claudia eventually married again, and stayed with her new husband in Rome. Despite being angry at Ezio at first, Claudia came to enjoy her visits to Ezio and Sofia's villa in the Tuscan countryside, and grew to love her new niece Flavia and nephew Marcello. Despite being older than Sofia by 15 years, Claudia didn't take up a mother role to her sister-in-law and became very close, with Sofia occasionally taking her children to visit Claudia in Rome.

Characteristics and personality
In her younger years, it was evident that Claudia had been too spoiled by Giovanni, and was unafraid to be violent when a girl merely "looked at her boyfriend." Due to her temper, Giovanni was forced to raise her dowry by 1,000 florins, since she scared off all of her suitors. At times, she was also seen to be immature, complaining petulantly after Mario assigned her to manage Monteriggioni's finances.

Regardless, Claudia was quite capable of handling and keeping track of the town's bankroll, as well as of her brother's purchases and earnings. Her capability in business management again became useful when she volunteered - despite Ezio's initial protest - to take over the brothel in Rome. Under her leadership, the Rosa in Fiore became the most popular brothel in the city, as well as an effective intelligence-gathering arm for the Assassins.

Claudia was also kind with her family, being especially emotional over her father and brothers' execution, her mother's emotional trauma, and leaving her home and her friends in Florence. Claudia was Ezio's only sister, and unlike her brothers, who were executed on the orders of Rodrigo Borgia to prove a point to the Assassins, she was spared, likely because of her gender.

Trivia

 * Assassin's Creed II
 * Claudia, as with most characters, appears not to age over the course of the game, and remains at the same desk in the Villa Auditore for 23 years. After she complains about being put to work, her only interaction with Ezio is asking if he is there to look at the book of finances.
 * When Ezio starts earning income from Monteriggioni, Claudia states that she will keep any money past the chest's maximum capacity, with no explanation of what she intends to do with all the money.
 * Although she is always sitting in the Villa Auditore through most of the game, Claudia appears in the "vision" Ezio has at his home during the Bonfire of the Vanities.
 * There is a glitch where, if you manage to bump into Claudia and knock her down, she will be given the voice of one of the guards (since knocking her down is normally not supposed to be possible).


 * Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
 * Claudia still appears quite young, despite her being 38 years old at the beginning of the game. Her skin appears to be paler than it was before as well.
 * When Claudia is inducted into the Assassin Order, her outfit is similar to that of Maria Thorpe in Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines and Assassin's Creed II.
 * Like her brother, Claudia wields a knife with an Icepick Grip, as shown in the memory "Paper Trail."
 * Claudia is not listed as an Assassin in the Animus database, despite her induction within the main story.