Cristina Vespucci

Cristina Vespucci (1459 - 1498), was a well-known Florentine beauty and a favorite of painters, most notably Botticelli, who used her as a model for several of his paintings.

Early life
Cristina Vespucci was born in Florence, Italy, circa 1459. From an early age, she caught the eyes of many boys who wanted to become intimate with her. One of those boys was Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who was encouraged to go speak with Cristina by his brother Federico one night. However, Cristina wasn't interested in him and walked away. Ezio, who wasn't used to being turned down by a woman, followed Cristina to her home, where she was confronted by Vieri de' Pazzi. After Cristina turned Vieri down as well, he was about to sexually attack Cristina, when he was interrupted by Ezio, who had come to Cristina's rescue. The two fought and Ezio was the victor. Cristina was thankful of Ezio's actions and so began a relationship between the two.

Ezio visited Cristina quite frequently and was "unbelievably dexterous," as the guards were never able to catch him trespassing.

Middle years
Cristina was a bit responsible for starting her cousin Amerigo's career. Cristina attended a dinner party, where she had a conversation with Lorenzo de' Medici and Manfredo Soderini about her cousin. She exaggerated Amerigo's brilliance, saying: "Try Amerigo out. I bet after several years you'll have your shipping company named after him." Lorenzo, charmed by Cristina's beauty, took her advice to heart and several years later, Amerigo was the first to map out the New World and had it named after him.

In 1476, directly after the Auditore execution, Cristina helped Ezio give his father and brothers the proper final rites by burning and setting their bodies adrift in the Arno. Ezio asked Cristina to leave with him, as he needed to leave for Monteriggioni with his family. But Cristina refused, as she didn't want to leave her family. Ezio, understanding her judgement, gave her a crest-shaped pendant to remember him by before they part.

In 1478 by orders of her father, Cristina was engaged to be married to Manfredo Soderini. When Ezio returned to Florence for the first time in two years, Cristina was the first person he visited. After a short talk, she sadly mentioned that she had not expected him to return, and told him of the engagement, breaking Ezio's heart. After being informed Manfredo was being confronted by people whom he owed gambling money, Ezio rushed to save Cristina's fiance. After killing the gamblers, Ezio hung Manfredo over a bridge and demanded to know if he truly loved Cristina, to which Manfredo sincerely replied yes. Ezio ordered him to stop gambling and to be a good husband to Cristina, or else he would hunt him down and kill him. Afterward, Ezio returned to Cristina and kissed her, telling her that he had made sure that Manfredo would be a good husband to her.

Eight years later, 1486 in Venice, Leonardo da Vinci revealed to Ezio that Cristina was attending Carnevale with her husband. Worrying that she would not agree to see him after all the years by simply asking her, Ezio snuck a letter to Cristina, posing as her husband and requesting her to meet him alone in an alley. Cristina obliged and the two kissed, with Cristina believing Ezio to be Manfredo, as he was wearing a mask. After discovering the truth, she yelled at Ezio for kissing her, both because she was already married and because she hadn't seen Ezio in so many years. Cristina told Ezio that, before, she had loved him and would rather have married him; however it was now too late. She angrily told him to never look for her again and left.

Death
"I wish we could have had a second chance."

- Cristina's final words to Ezio.

In 1494, Girolamo Savonarola took control of Florence after Lorenzo de' Medici's death. Savonarola claimed that all Renaissance material was evil and that they should go back to the medieval times, instigating the Bonfire of the Vanities.

In 1498, Savonarola's fanatics infiltrated the Palazzo d'Arzente to kill Manfredo Soderini. Manfredo attempted to fend them off, however, this was a vain effort, as there were too many attackers. Cristina managed to escape, but was soon cornered by the fanatics. At this point, Ezio, after hearing about what had happened from a dying Manfredo, came to her aid and killed all of the soldiers. However, Cristina was already mortally wounded and was slowly dying. After showing him the pendant she had kept with her the past twenty-two years, and telling him she wished they could have had a second chance together, she died in Ezio's arms.

Trivia

 * Even though Cristina was married for twenty years and saw Ezio only for a few short minutes once every several years, she still loved him more than her own husband, even just moments before she died.
 * Cristina features in several repressed memories during Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, which are unlocked when the player achieves certain amounts of Synchronization.Eziocristina.jpg
 * Starting a Cristina mission in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood requires you to speak to a Cristina-like figure with no face much like the people that Desmond sees when first entering the Animus in Assassin's Creed.
 * She is probably based on Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci.
 * Cristina, like many characters in the Assassin's Creed series, does not physically age during the course of the Cristina missions in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
 * In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Cristina dies in Ezio's arms. Whereas in Assassin's Creed: Renaissance, he is told by Niccolò Machiavelli that she died.