
Ginevra Sforza
Born:
in 1440
Deceased on:
17. May 1507
Father:
Alessandro Sforza (1409-1473), youngest brother of Francesco Sforza (1401-1466), Duke of Milan
Mother:
unknown
Half-siblings:
- her half-sister Antonia (1445-1500), since 1460 married to Ottaviano, Count of Martinengo delle Palle ( 1485)
- her half-sister Battista (1446-1472), since 10. February 1460 married to Federigo da Montefeltro ( 1482), Count and later Duke of Urbino
- her half-brother Costanzo I. (1447-1483), Lord of Pesaro; two illegitimate sons: Giovanni (1466-1510) and Galeazzo (1470-1519)
Spouses:
- Sante Bentivoglio (1426-1463), Lord of Bologna; marriage on 8. March 1452
- Giovanni II. Bentivoglio (1443-1508), Lord of Bologna, son of Annibale I. Bentivoglio ( 1445); marriage on 2. May 1464; apart from his children with Ginevra Sforza he had 7 illegitimate sons and 4 - 5 illegitimate daughters
Children:
from her first marriage to Sante Bentivoglio:
- her daughter Costanza (1458-1491); since 1473 married to Antonmaria Pico da Mirandola
- her son Ercole, born in 1459, he lived as a Condottiere
- and two further daughters who died, when they were still small children
from her second marriage to Giovanni II. Bentivoglio: she gave birth to 16 children, 11 of which reached adulthood:
- her daughter Bianca, married to Count Niccol๒ Rangoni of Spilamberto (Captain-General of the Bolognese troops)
- her daughter Francesca ( 1504), her first husband was Galeotto Manfredi of Faenza, whom she murdered in 1488 (in this painting she is still depicted as a widow with a black veil); her second husband was Guido Torelli; her daughter Ippolita (1501-1521) from this marriage married in 1516 the court poet of Urbino, Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529)
- her son Annibale II. (1469-1540), since 1487 married to Lucrezia d'Este (1472-1518), an illegitimate daughter of Duke Ercole I. of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio
- her daughter Leonora, born in 1470, married to Ghiberto Pio of Carpi; her son Alessandro ( 1518) married the beautiful Angela Borgia Lanzol
- her daughter Camilla, who had to spend her life as a nun
- her son Antongaleazzo (1472-1525), who became Protonotary in the Papal Chancery
- her daughter Violanta, married to Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini
- her son Alessandro (1476-1532), Count of Campagna, married to Ippolita Sforza ( 1520/21), a niece of Lodovico Maria il Moro Sforza, Duke of Milan
- her daughter Laura ( 1523), since 1491 married to Giovanni Gonzaga (1474-1523), youngest brother of Margrave Gian Francesco II. Gonzaga of Mantua
- her son Ermes (1482-1513), married to Jacopa Orsini – he was said to be a cruel and violent man
- her daughter Isotta, who like her sister Camilla spent her life as a nun
More Images:
Reading Suggestion:
- Cecilia M. Ady: The Bentivoglio of Bologna – A Study in Despotism. Oxford, London 1937



