- Alessandro Sforza
Alessandro Sforza (
october 21 ,1409 - April 1473) was an Italiancondottiero and lord ofPesaro , the first of the Pesaro line of theSforza family.Biography
He was born in
Cotignola , an illegitimate son of the famous condottieroMuzio Attendolo .Alessandro collaborated actively with his brother Francesco in his military campaign, and with him he conquered
Milan ,Alessandria and Pesaro. In 1435, at Fiordimonte, he won the battle in which the rioutousNiccolò Fortebraccio was killed. In 1445 atAssisi he commanded the troops besieged byPope Eugene IV 's condottieroNiccolò Piccinino . He was forced to leave the city, abandoning the city to ravages and massacres. In the same year he obtained the lordship of Pesaro byGaleazzo Malatesta . Here he enlarged the Ducal Palace to conform it to the Renaissance standards.During the
Wars in Lombardy in support of Francesco he presidedParma and, in February 1446, he proclaimed himself lord of the city. After Francesco's conquest of theDuchy of Milan , thePeace of Lodi (1454) confirmed him in Parma.In 1464 he obtained by
Pope Pius II the seigniory ofGradara , which he defended by the Malatesta attempts of reconquest.He died in 1473 for an
apoplexy attack. His son Costanzo succeeded him in Pesaro.Family
He married to Costanza da Varano (1428-1447), the daughter of
Pietro Gentile I da Varano , onDecember 8 ,1444 . She died while bearing Costanzo. The following year he married toSveva da Montefeltro (1434-1478), daughter ofGuidantonio da Montefeltro , count ofUrbino . In 1457, fearing a possible conjure of theMalatesta family to regain the seigniory of Pesaro, he obliged her to became a nun in a monastery in the city.By Costanza he had two children, Battista (1446-1472), who became the wife of Federico III of Urbino, and Costanzo, who married to Camilla d'Aragona, heir of
Ferdinand I of Aragon .He also had an illegitimate daughter, Ginevra (1452-1507), who was married to
Sante Bentivoglio and, after the latter's death,Giovanni II Bentivoglio , duke ofBologna .
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