Duccio de Luca

"There was once a man called Duccio, a rat with lecherous taste.
Whenever he would show himself, my fist would find his face."

―Ezio Auditore, singing of his run-ins with Duccio, 1511.

Duccio de Luca
Biographical information
Born	1462 Florence, Republic of Florence
Died	1520 (aged 58) Rome, Papal States
Species	Human
Database entries	Duccio de Luca

Duccio de Luca (1462 – 1520) was a member of the Florentine nobility, who eventually became a trader, ferrying merchandise between Rome and other cities.

Biography

Early life

As of 1476, Duccio was engaged to Claudia Auditore da Firenze. However, he engaged in affairs with up to six other women at the same time, claiming that his father had told him he could "do much better than an Auditore."

After Claudia was informed of this by other girls, her brother Ezio met with Duccio outside the Duomo. There, he beat Duccio up as payback, and warned him to stay away from Claudia.

Life as a trader

After ending his relationship with Claudia, Duccio tried to marry into the Pazzi family. These attempts were cut short by the failure of the Pazzi Conspiracy in 1478. Through substantial donations to the textile guilds, Duccio became a wool trader, exporting his Florentine products across Italy. In 1490, Duccio bought a small ship, presumably to become an alum trader. His ship, however, was too small for him to become a successful alum trader, with little to no profit in the years of 1490-1496.

In 1497, he took instead to transporting various goods between cities, achieving some success smuggling illegal wares out of Florence during the rule of Girolamo Savonarola. In 1506, Duccio visited Rome on business, where he learned that Claudia had become the Madame of the Rosa in Fiore, Rome's most popular brothel. Chancing upon Ezio again, Duccio provoked him into a fistfight after insulting Claudia, despite Ezio initially refusing due to their age.

Though aided by several henchmen, Duccio was unable to best Ezio. Grabbing Duccio by the collar, Ezio then demanded the location of the three Leonardo da Vinci paintings that Duccio had acquired. The cowed merchant admitted that one, Lady with an Ermine, was on his ship, while the other two had already been sold. Upon insulting Claudia further, Duccio was ultimately knocked unconscious by Ezio, and left on the docks.

Later life

In 1511, Duccio wound up in Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, where he encountered Sofia Sartor. He attempted to flirt with her, claiming that it was fate that had brought them together, though she was simply disgusted by him. Duccio was soon interrupted by Ezio, who had become close to Sofia. Terrified upon recognizing his old enemy, Duccio fled, crying to Sofia to run from the "devil".

In later life, Duccio's business failed, and he was left penniless. He barely survived, only just managing to scrape a living, and later died due to rabies, which he likely received from a dog bite.

Trivia

• Duccio was called "Duccio Dovizi" in Assassin's Creed: Renaissance, and the Assassin's Creed: Revelations novel.
• If one takes his birth date into account, Duccio would have been 14 years old at the time when he cheated on Claudia in Assassin's Creed II.
  • Interestingly, if one takes Claudia's birth date into consideration, she would have been 15 years old, a year older than Duccio.
• The "Bully" achievement can be unlocked in Assassin's Creed: Revelations by finding and beating up Duccio, who will be in a drunken state. This can be done multiple times, upon leaving the area. Upon looting him, Ezio would find but a single akçe coin, implying he was already broke.
  • While Assassin recruits cannot be sent after Duccio, he can be killed using any weapon, without receiving desynchronization warnings. If the player goes just far enough away to trigger the respawn, it can even lead to having multiple Duccio corpses on the ground at the same time.
• In the memory "The Prince's Banquet", Ezio sang of his encounters with Duccio.
• Duccio has appeared in all three games in the Ezio Trilogy, despite being a relatively unimportant character.
• Duccio's clothes were the same as those worn by the male Assassin recruits that Ezio rescued in Rome.

Gallery

Duccio giving the woman a ring

Duccio with a woman on the docks of Rome

Ezio and Duccio in Rome

Duccio knocked out after the fight

Duccio trying to flirt with Sofia Sartor

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations