Saint Catherine of Siena

Pious woman from ordinary family helped the Pope reorganise the church

Tiepolo's 1746 painting of St Catherine, in
 the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna

Caterina Benincasa, who was one day to be canonized as Saint Catherine of Siena, a patron saint of Rome, Italy and Europe, was born on this day in 1347 in Siena in Tuscany.

She is remembered for her writings, all of which were dictated to scribes, as she did not learn to write until late in life. While carrying out Christ’s work in Italy, she wrote about 380 letters, 26 prayers, and four treatises of Il libro della divina dottrina, better known as The Dialogue. These works were so influential and highly regarded she was later declared a Doctor of the Church.

Caterina was the youngest of 25 children born to Lapa Piagenti, the daughter of a poet, and Jacopo di Benincasa, a cloth dyer. She is said to have had her first vision of God when she was just five years old and at the age of seven, Caterina vowed to give her whole life to God.

She refused to get married when her parents tried to arrange it, cut off her hair to make herself look less attractive and began to fast. She did not want to take a nun’s veil, but to live an active life full of prayer in society, following the model of the Dominicans.

When she was in her early 20s, Caterina said she had experienced a spiritual espousal, or mystical marriage, to Christ, and she began serving the poor and sick in Siena and attracted a group of followers.

Alessandro Franchi's 19th century painting depicts
a young Caterina cutting off her long hair

She started to travel around Italy to promote church reform. She strongly believed the return of Pope Gregory XI to Rome was the best way to bring peace to Italy and she went to Avignon to be an unofficial advocate of this. She was then sent by him to negotiate peace with Florence.

In 1377 she founded a women’s monastery of strict observance in an old fortress outside Siena.

The next Pope, Urban VI, invited Caterina to Rome to help reorganise the church. She lived at the court meeting individual nobles to convince them to support the Pope and sending letters to other princes and cardinals urging them to obey him.

She tried to win back the support of Queen Joan I of Naples for the papacy, although Urban VI had previously excommunicated the queen for supporting the antipope. Being trusted by the Pope with such important work was rare for a woman in the Middle Ages.

By the time Caterina was 33 her habit of extreme fasting, eventually living just off the daily Eucharist, had made her ill. She became unable to eat and drink at all and lost the use of her legs. She died on 29 April, 1380 following a stroke. Her last words had been: ‘Father, into Your Hands I commend my soul and my spirit.’

Lorenzo Lotto's 1533 painting, St Catherine with the
Holy Family, is in the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo

Pope Urban VI celebrated her funeral and her burial in the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva near the Pantheon in Rome. Her head and thumb were later entombed in the Basilica of San Domenico in Siena, where they remain.

Caterina had a spiritual adviser and friend from about 1374 until her death named Raymond of Capua. He wrote what is known as the Legenda Major: a Life of Caterina, which was completed in 1395.

Tommaso Caffarini, also known as Thomas of Siena, wrote an account of Caterina’s life and compiled a set of documents with testimony from many of her disciples as part of the process for her canonisation. An anonymous Florentine wrote Miracoli della Beata Caterina, about the miracles she performed.

The devotion to Caterina di Siena grew rapidly after her death. She was canonised in 1461 by Pope Pius II, who was himself from Siena and her feast day was established on 29 April. She was declared patron saint of Rome in 1866 and of Italy, together with St Francis of Assisi, in 1939. She was proclaimed patron saint of Europe in 1999 by Pope John Paul II.

Caterina’s Dialogue, letters and prayers have given her a prominent place in the history of Italian literature.

Caterina's home in Siena is now a shrine, which
houses a museum dedicated to her life

Travel tip:

Siena in Tuscany, where Caterina was born and lived for much of her life, has made a shrine out of the house she lived in with her parents. It has a museum dedicated to her life and is open to visitors in Vicolo di Tiratolo off Costa Sant’Antonio.  The nearby Basilica of San Domenico has a Cappella Santa Caterina where her head and thumb are housed. Siena is the venue for the historic horse race, the Palio di Siena. The race is contested in Siena’s Piazza del Campo, a shell-shaped open area which is regarded as one of Europe’s finest medieval squares. It was established in the 13th century as an open marketplace on a sloping site between the three communities that eventually merged to form the city of Siena.

Hotels in Siena by Booking.com

The Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
in Rome, which houses Catherine's remains

Travel tip:

Caterina was buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, which is in Piazza Minerva, close to the Pantheon in Rome. The basilica is the only surviving Gothic church structure left in Rome and has the original, arched vaulting inside. A sarcophagus containing the remains of Saint Catherine of Siena can be seen behind the high altar.  Among the works of art in the church are Michelangelo's statue Cristo della Minerva (1521) and the late 15th-century (1488–93) cycle of frescoes in the Carafa Chapel by Filippino Lippi. The basilica also houses the tomb of the 15th century the Dominican friar Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (Blessed John of Fiesole, born Guido di Piero) better known as the painter Fra Angelico.

Also on this day:

1541: The birth of Francesco I, Grand Duke of Tuscany

1546: The birth of courtesan and poet Veronica Franco

1927: The birth of ground-breaking politician Tina Anselmi

1940: The birth of Mina, Italy’s all-time best-selling female pop singer

(Picture credits: Caterina's house in Siena by Gryffindor; Basilica by sonofgroucho via Wikimedia Commons)

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Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta - condottiero

Brutal tyrant or sensitive patron of the arts?

A portrait of Sigismondo by Piero della
Francesca, painted in about 1451

One of the most daring military leaders in 15th century Italy, Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, died on this day in 1468 in Rimini.

He had been Lord of Rimini, Fano and Cesena since 1432 and is remembered as a generous patron of the arts during his rule.

Sigismondo commissioned the architect Leon Battista Alberti to build the most famous monument in Rimini, the Church of San Francesco, which is also known as the Tempio Malatestiano, and he welcomed artists and writers to his court.  But partly as a result of a systematic campaign of defamation by his enemy, Pope Pius II, some historians have ascribed a reputation for brutality to him.

Sigismondo was one of three illegitimate sons of Pandolfo Malatesta, who had ruled over Brescia and Bergamo between 1404 and 1421.

At the age of ten, after the death of his father, Sigismondo went to Rimini with his brothers to the court of his uncle, Carlo Malatesta. His birth was later legitimised by Pope Martin V.

After Carlo’s death, Sigismondo’s older brother inherited the Lordship of Rimini, but after two years he abandoned it to go into a monastery and handed over power to Sigismondo.

Pope Pius II accused Sigismondo
of a number of crimes

From the age of 16, Sigismondo sold his military talents as a condottiero (mercenary captain) to all sides during the Italian wars.

In 1434, when he was 17, he married Ginevra, the daughter of Niccolò III d’Este and a few years later he commissioned the building of Castel Sismondo in Rimini.

After the death of Ginevra, he married Polissena, the daughter of Francesco Sforza. When she died eight years later, Sigismondo could finally make his relationship with his lover, Isotta degli Atti, public and they married in 1456.

Sigismondo surrounded himself with artists and intellectuals, including Piero della Francesca, one of the greatest painters of the Renaissance.

After Pope Pius II was elected in 1459 he imposed humiliating conditions on Sigismondo who rebelled against him. He was excommunicated and his reputation was tarnished by the Pope.

Sigismondo was deprived of all his land, apart from the city of Rimini, and was ruined financially. In an attempt to improve his fortunes, Sigismondo went to Morea, the Peloponnese peninsula in Southern Greece, in 1464 to fight on behalf of Venice against the Turks and he did not return to Italy until after the death of Pope Pius II.

He died on 7 October 1468 in Castel Sismondo in Rimini and was buried in the Malatesta Temple, even though it was still not finished. He was succeeded by his son and nominated heir, Sallustio, who ruled Rimini under the regency of his mother, Isotta.

Sigismondo Malatesta with Galeazzo Maria
Sforza in a fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli

Sigismondo was popular as a ruler and admired as a condottiero but he also gained a reputation for brutality, which was perpetuated by historians, partly because he was repeatedly defamed by one of his most powerful enemies, Pope Pius II, who accused him of murder, rape, adultery and incest. In a unique ceremony, Pius II ‘canonised him to hell’ while he was still alive.

One theory is that the Pope wanted Sigismondo’s land and resorted to invoking supernatural aid and using earthly propaganda against him when he couldn’t beat him in war.

Sigismondo acknowledged he was not without sins and tried to justify them in a series of love sonnets dedicated to Isotta.

In 1906, Edward Hutton published the historical novel, Sigismondo Malatesta, which was mostly sympathetic to its hero.

The American poet Ezra Pound published Malatesta Cantos in 1923, which were about Sigismondo’s career as a soldier, lover and patron of the arts. But more than 500 years after his death, some of the mud the Pope threw at Sigismondo still sticks.

The remains of the Castel Sismondo, designed in part by
the great architect Filippo Brunelleschi

Travel tip:

Work began on Castel Sismondo in 1437 but only the central part of the structure remains today in Piazza Malatesta in Rimini.  Sigismondo is said to have designed it himself but the architect Brunelleschi also worked on it, visiting Rimini in 1438. You can see how the castle would have looked originally in one of Piero della Francesca’s paintings in the Tempio Malatestiano. Sigismondo died in the castle in 1468. In 1821 the castle was turned into barracks for the local Carabinieri but it is now used for cultural exhibitions.

The Tempio Malatestiano is the cathedral church of the
Italian Adriatic resort town of Rimini

Travel tip:

The Tempio Malatestiano is the cathedral church of Rimini, originally dedicated to St Francis. Sigismondo commissioned Leon Battista Alberti to rebuild the original 13th century Gothic church and make it into a mausoleum for himself and his wife, Isotta. The building was never finished because Sigismondo’s fortunes declined after his excommunication. Inside there is a fresco by Piero della Francesca portraying Sigismondo kneeling before St Sigismund, the patron saint of soldiers.

More reading:

How Piero della Francesca explored the use of perspective

Niccolò III d'Este and the rise of Ferrara

Giovanni Sforza - Lord of Pesaro and Gradara

Also on this day:

304: The execution of Saint Giustina of Padua

1675: The birth of Venetian portrait painter Rosalba Carriera

1972: The birth of celebrity cook Gabriele Corcos


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Ippolita Maria Sforza – noble woman

Learned lady sacrificed happiness for a political alliance

Ippolita Maria Sforza's marriage helped
forge a strong link between Naples and Milan

Ippolita Maria Sforza, a cultured young noblewoman who wrote poetry, letters and documents in Latin, was born on this day in 1446 in Cremona.

She was married to Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, who later became King Alfonso II of Naples, because it was a politically advantageous alliance, but she did not live long enough to become his Queen consort.

Ippolita was the eldest daughter of Francesco I Sforza, Duke of Milan, and Bianca Maria Visconti.

She was tutored along with her six younger brothers and one younger sister by a Greek scholar who taught her philosophy and Greek.

When she was 14 years old she composed a Latin address for Pope Pius II, which became well known after it was circulated in manuscript form.

She wrote many letters, which were published in Italy in one volume in 1893. She also wrote poetry and a Latin eulogy for her father, Francesco.

Ippolita was married at the age of 19 to Alfonso, the eldest son of King Ferdinand I of Naples. The marriage created a powerful alliance between the Kingdom of Naples and the Duchy of Milan.

A copy of a 1472 bust by Francesco Laurana thought to
be of Ippolita Maria Sforza

But her husband, perhaps threatened by her high level of education, treated her with a lack of respect throughout their marriage.

Ippolita’s letters from this period display the adroit diplomacy she used to strengthen the alliance between Milan and Naples amid crises, such as her brother’s assassination in Milan and the Turkish invasion of Otranto.

The couple had three children. Their eldest son, Ferdinand, became King of Naples, their daughter, Isabella, married Gian Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, and their youngest son, Piero, died of an infection after surgery.

Ippolita died at the age of 38 in 1484 in Naples. Her husband then married his long-standing mistress by whom he already had two illegitimate children.

Soon after Ippolita’s death, the Naples-Milan alliance collapsed.

Cremona's bell tower, Il Torrazzo

Travel tip:

Cremona is famous for having the tallest bell tower in Italy, il Torrazzo, which measures more than 112 metres in height. As well as the manufacture of violins, Cremona is also famous for producing confectionery. Negozio Sperlari in Via Solferino specialises in the city’s famous torrone (nougat). The concoction of almonds, honey and egg whites was created in the city to mark the marriage of Bianca Maria Visconti to Francesco Sforza in 1441, when Cremona was given to the bride as part of her dowry.

The Palazzo Reale was one of the residences of the
Kings of Naples

Travel tip:

In the area around Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples you can see buildings with royal connections. The impressive Palazzo Reale at the eastern end of the piazza was one of the residences of the Kings of Naples at the time the city was capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The palace is home to a 30-room museum and the largest library in southern Italy, both now open to the public. Close to the royal palace is one of the oldest opera houses in the world, built for a Bourbon King of Naples. Teatro di San Carlo was officially opened on 4 November 1737, way ahead of La Scala in Milan and La Fenice in Venice. In the magnificent auditorium, the focal point is the royal box surmounted by the crown of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

More reading:

Bianca Maria Visconti - powerful woman who ran Milan

How the despotic Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies ruled for 65 years

Ludovico III Gonzaga - 15th century ruler of Mantua

Also on this day:

1480: The birth of the notorious beauty Lucrezia Borgia

1911: The birth of car maker Ilario Bandini

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Ludovico III Gonzaga – Marquis of Mantua

Condottiero fought to improve the town of his birth

Ludovico Gonzaga in a detail from a
painting by Andrea Mantegna

Ludovico Gonzaga, who ruled his native city for 34 years, was born on this day in 1412 in Mantua.

He grew up to fight as a condottiero - a military leader for hire - and in 1433 he married Barbara of Brandenburg, the niece of the Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund.

After Ludovico entered the service of the Visconti family in Milan, he and his wife were exiled from Mantua by his father, Gianfrancesco I.

But father and son were later reconciled and Ludovico became Marquis of Mantua in 1444, inheriting territory that had been reduced in size and was impoverished after years of war.

He continued to serve as a condottiero, switching his allegiance between Milan, Florence, Venice and Naples, to gain territory and secure peace for Mantua.

The high point of his reign came when Pope Pius II held a Council in Mantua between 1459 and 1460 to plan a crusade against the Ottoman Turks. Although the Pope was unimpressed with Mantua and criticised the food and wine afterwards, the event earned prestige for Ludovico, whose son, Francesco, was made a Cardinal.

The Torre dell'Orologio Gonzaga built for Mantua

During Ludovico’s reign, he paved the streets of Mantua, built a clock tower and reorganised the city centre. He also appointed Andrea Mantegna to be court artist to the Gonzaga family.

Ludovico died in 1478 in Goito, to the north of Mantua, during an outbreak of plague and was subsequently buried in Mantua Cathedral.

Having fathered 14 legitimate children, Ludovico was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, who became Federico I of Mantua.

Travel tip:

Mantua is an atmospheric old city in Lombardy, to the south east of Milan, famous for its Renaissance Palazzo Ducale, the seat of the Gonzaga family between 1328 and 1707. The Camera degli Sposi is decorated with frescoes by Andrea Mantegna, depicting the life of Ludovico Gonzaga and his family. The beautiful backgrounds of imaginary cities and ruins reflect Mantegna’s love of classical architecture.

The Cathedral of St Peter in Mantua

Travel tip:

Ludovico III was buried in the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Mantua, where his ancestor, Ludovico I, the founder of the Gonzaga family, is also buried. There was a church on the site from early Christian times, followed by a later building that was destroyed by fire. The current church was built between 1395 and 1401. It was given a baroque façade made from Carrara marble during the 18th century.

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