- Vittoria Della Rovere
Vittoria della Rovere (
February 7 ,1622 -march 5 ,1694 ) was the wife ofFerdinando II de' Medici ,Grand Duke of Tuscany .Biography
The last descendant of the
Della Rovere , Dukes of Urbino, she was born inPesaro toFederico Ubaldo della Rovere andClaudia de' Medici , the daughter of Ferdinand I of Tuscany. She received a deep Catholic education.Vittoria was betrothed to her cousin Ferdinando in 1623, married in 1634. While she was the potential heir to the duchy of Urbino when her grandfather, the duke
Francesco Maria II della Rovere died, however, the duchy was annexed to thePapal States byPope Urban VIII . The Medici however obtained in 1631 the rich art collections of the family, now in theUffizi andPalazzo Pitti .After two children who died early, disputes arose about the education of their son Cosimo (born in 1642), whom Ferdinando wanted to be educated in a modern secular fashion. In the end, Vittoria forced a strict Catholic education on the boy. Another child, Francesco Maria, was born in 1660.
Ferdinando and Vittoria had, at best, an unhappy marriage and lived separately for many years. In old age she made long stays in the convent of the
Montalve known asLa Quiete , as well as in theVilla del Poggio Imperiale . She died inPisa in 1694.
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