Uberto Alberti

Uberto Alberti (1416 – 1476) was the Gonfaloniere of Firenze, a former family friend of the Auditore's, and Lorenzo de' Medici's ally before the arrest and execution of Giovanni, Federico, and Petruccio by order of Rodrigo Borgia. He was also Ezio's first assassination target. He was also considered to be one of the greatest lawyers in the Italian Renaissance.

Biography

Templar affiliation

File:Uberto Alberti along with Lorenze de medici and Giovanni.jpg

Uberto with Giovanni and Lorenzo.

Uberto aided both Giovanni and Lorenzo by giving them advice, and he was involved in a interrogation of one of Rodrigo Borgia's men regarding the pre-planned assassination of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, where they successfully extorted information from the prisoner. When Giovanni later discovered of possible evidence of the Templars' plans, Uberto disposed of it, revealing his true allegiance to the Templar's cause.

Auditore execution

"In the absence of any compelling evidence to the contrary, I am bound to pronounce you guilty. You and your collaborators, I here by sentence to death."

― Uberto to Giovanni

Alberti (left) at the execution.

Ezio met Uberto in Giovanni's office conversing about something urgent, though Ezio was dismissed by his father before he could understand what they were discussing. Soon after, Giovanni sent Ezio with a letter containing evidence in order to deliver it to Uberto. Ezio did as his father asked, and swiftly made his way to Uberto's house, where unknowingly, the Templar Rodrigo Borgia was.

Uberto immediately knew what was in the envelope and asked Ezio if he would like to stay at his house, though Ezio declined; a decision that most likely saved his life. Soon after receiving the letter, Uberto warranted the arrest of Giovanni, Federico, Petruccio and Ezio (though he escaped because of his errands) under the crime of treason. On the day of the execution, Giovanni reminded Uberto of the evidence given to him by Ezio that proved his family innocent, but much to his surprise, Uberto claimed that he had no recollection what he was talking about, before sentencing the three to death by hanging.

At the sight of their deaths, Ezio ran up towards the stage, before claiming that he would kill Uberto for what he ha done, but a Brute guard disarmed Ezio before he was able to get close enough. Escaping the guards, Ezio met up with Annetta, who directed him to go to her sister's house. Once there, Annetta's sister, Paola, taught Ezio the skills necessary to assassinate Uberto.

Death

File:Uberto2.jpg

Alberti's death.

After a few days of training Ezio, Paola tracked down Uberto for Ezio's vengeance. Ezio followed Alberti to the Santa Croce cloister, where he was attending an art exhibition of Verrochio.

He was seen speaking with Lorenzo de' Medici about the executions, and subsequently insulted him. After Ezio dispatched the guards watching the courtyard of the Santa Croce, he saw Uberto speaking with various attending nobles, who were congratulating him for the executions. Afterwards, he noticed Ezio approaching, but before he could call the guards, Ezio brutally killed Uberto with his hidden blade, by stabbing him several times in the chest. Avenging his father and brothers, Ezio proclaimed to everyone in the courtyard that the Auditore were not dead.

Letter to Uberto's wife

After Ezio killed Alberti, he found an undelivered letter to Uberto's wife in the man's wallet:

My love,

I put these thoughts to paper in the hope that I might one day have the courage to share them with you. In time, you'll no doubt learn that I betrayed Giovanni, labeled him a traitor and sentenced him to die.

History will likely judge this to have been a matter of politics and greed. Know that it was not hate that forced my hand, but fear. When the Medici robbed us of all we owned, I found myself afraid. For you. For our son. For the future. What hope in this world for a man without proper means?

They offered me money, land and title in exchange for my collaboration. And so, this is how I came to betray my closest friend. However unspeakable the act, it seemed necessary at the time. And even now, looking back, I see no other way...

Final words

Uberto: You...

(Uberto is stabbed in the chest several times. The memory corridor is shown.)

Uberto: You would have done the same, to save the ones you love...

Ezio: Yes... I would. And I have!

Trivia

• Uberto saved the Templars from many close calls by destroying evidence of their conspiracy, and hindering their enemies' progress.
• It should be noted that Ezio assassinated Alberti in a rather "sloppy" manner, considering that he did so by stabbing him with the hidden blade five times in the chest, rather than plunging the blade into his target's throat in the traditional assassination technique. Of course, this could be easily explained and understandable to most, since it was Ezio's first time tracking down an assassination target, and he had not yet been extensively trained. He may have also be simply venting his fury on the man who destroyed his family.
• According to the Animus database's filter, Uberto was not a Templar (despite plotting with them). However, when viewing the portraits of Ezio's victims in his room in the Villa Auditore, Uberto's portrait shows that he was a Templar.
• It should be noted that, just as Uberto said "I see no other way" in his letter, Ezio sometimes uses the phrase when he assassinates other targets.
• If you watch carefully at the end of his database video, it showed four ropes on the gallows (instead of the three shown in the game), most probably because the extra one was meant for Ezio.
• If Uberto is left alive for a few moments after he has seen Ezio, he will call for the guards to arrest him.

Videos

thumb|300px|left thumb|300px|right|Uberto Alberti in the database.