The Tigress of Forli (17 page)

Three days after their arrival in Forlì, a papal bull arrived confirming the agreements Caterina had signed on her last day at the Castel Sant'Angelo. The document relieved some concerns; Forlì and Imola were officially theirs and the title would remain hereditary for their descendants. Girolamo maintained his position as captain of the papal armies, but the pope had relieved him of any obligation to come to Rome in that capacity, making it abundantly clear that the family's close connection to Rome had been truly severed. Caterina and Girolamo were on their own.

In public, the Riarios put on an optimistic face. Two months after their return to Forlì, Caterina's fourth child was born, on October 30, 1484. On a rainy morning two weeks later, Ludovico Orsi, Girolamo's closest friend among the Forlì nobles, cradled the infant in his arms as he walked from the Riarios' palace across the piazza to the Abbey of San Mercuriale. In the chill of the dimly lit church, he was joined by the ambassadors of the marquis of Ferrara, the marquis of Mantua, and the lord of Rimini. This array of northern nobility stood as godparents to the newborn Riario, who was baptized with the name Giovanni Livio, for the legendary founder of Forlì.

Girolamo strove to win the favor of his people during his first year as the resident ruler. He upheld his promise of limiting taxation, even though it became increasingly evident that this system was driving the city into ruin. To save money, he decreased the number of guards on the city gates, discontinued certain public offices, and delayed payment of salaries to public employees. At the same time, terrified of assassination plots, he maintained a heavy personal guard. Although almost as hampered by armed soldiers as she was in Rome, Caterina must have been pleased by the energy and resources Girolamo put into modernizing the fortress of Ravaldino. The family lived in a modest palace overlooking the main square, but the fortress was being equipped with the latest designs in defensive architecture and would eventually serve as a sumptuous residence.

Yet even nature itself seemed to conspire against the new rulers. During their first year in Forlì, drought struck the region of Romagna, destroying the harvest and driving grain prices to the skies. Girolamo struggled on, scraping the bottom of his personal coffers to purchase grain from abroad, which he sold to the citizens of Forlì at the considerable discount of 4.5 soldi per bushel instead of the market rate of 5.7.

But neither Girolamo's gentler public relations strategies nor his belated displays of civic generosity rendered his reign easier. On October 22, less than a week before the birth of Giovanni Livio, the exiled nobleman Hector Zampeschi and his two brothers stormed and occupied three fiefs on the outskirts of Forlì. Pope Paul II had originally transferred these territories to the brothers, but after the Zampeschis fought for Florence against the papacy, Pope Sixtus had reclaimed the lands and donated them to Count Riario. Enraged by the Zampeschis' aggression, Girolamo immediately summoned Il Tolentino to win the fiefs back by force, but Caterina intervened and her wisdom prevailed. She suspected that Pope Innocent had funded the soldiers and weaponry for the assault. Therefore, any retaliation would find no military or legal support from Rome. Thinking practically, Caterina also pointed out that the Zampeschis had crossed through Florentine territory to invade the lands, suggesting the complicity of Lorenzo de' Medici. Moreover, by sending his best soldiers to reconquer the fiefs, Girolamo would be leaving his own family unprotected, providing a golden opportunity for the pope and the Florentines to attack. Caterina counseled patience. This conciliatory approach, so unlike her adamant stand at the Castel Sant'Angelo, was motivated by political expediency, not a sense of forgiveness. The loss of those fiefs could be tolerated until she had time to contemplate the best response and procure the resources to effect it. Nonetheless, this first nibble into the Riario holdings indicated what might lay in store for the count and countess. Once their predatory neighbors smelled blood, would they all take bites out of the Riario lands?

Then, as 1484 drew to a close, Caterina fell deathly ill. The battles in the Roman countryside that summer, Sixtus's death, the commandeering of the Castel Sant'Angelo, the hard ride to Forlì, and the delivery of Livio had taken their toll. Quartan fever, a malarial illness characterized by a high temperature recurring every seventy-two hours, kept her bedridden for a month. She probably contracted malaria during the hot summer at Campo Morto; she had spent the autumn of 1483 sidelined by the same illness, and the malady would sporadically assail Caterina for the rest of her life.

That Christmas, while the
ciocco
smoldered, the young countess burned with fever. Doctors poured down her throat a concoction of mint, vinegar, and opium extract dissolved in wine, but this standard remedy of the time did nothing to improve Caterina's condition. In the end, her strong constitution and fighting spirit likely served her better than medicinal brews. Early in the new year she regained her customary health and vigor, and by the end of January, Caterina was hunting in the Romagnol countryside again. The near loss of his wife evidently increased Girolamo's appreciation for her. By the spring of 1485 Caterina was pregnant with her fifth child.

During the distraction caused by Caterina's illness, the formerly tranquil town of Imola staged its first insurrection. Taddeo Manfredi, the former ruler, possibly abetted by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Savelli in Bologna, came out of retirement in Milan and attempted to organize a coup d'état with several citizens of Imola. Again the loyal Il Tolentino sniffed out and squelched the plot and hanged thirteen of the ringleaders in the town square. Manfredi alone escaped.

Caterina's resilience allowed her not only to recover from illness but also to adapt to her change of station. Cast from the world stage to the backwoods, Caterina was not petulant; rather, she embraced her new life. She took over her duties as countess of Forlì gracefully and with ease. Her court was much reduced; ladies in waiting from the loftiest houses in Italy were replaced by local girls with clumsier manners. Her former entourage of philosophers, poets, and musicians was gone, replaced by the tough soldiers of Girolamo's personal guard. Her master of court was a local artisan made good, so the fabulous entertainment that had filled many an evening in Rome became a memory. In her letters to family and friends, and according to the writings of the diarists and ambassadors in her court, she never expressed nostalgia for her old life nor impatience with her new one.

The Riarios were not in high demand on the Italian social circuit, but they did welcome a few illustrious visitors over the course of 1485. In the spring, Giovanni Bentivoglio of Bologna spent a few nights in Forlì on his way to the pilgrimage shrine of the Holy House of Loreto in the nearby Marche region. Caterina and Girolamo, eager to show their neighbor that exclusion from Rome had not weakened them in the slightest, lodged him in the palace. During these days Caterina delighted her guests with the beauty, style, and elegance that had endeared her to both Rome and Forlì.

Girolamo's nephew Cardinal Raffaello Riario and his huge retinue also descended on Forlì, bearing news from Rome. In the papal court, he said, plots abounded to remove the despised Girolamo. Despite these concerns, Caterina and Girolamo took full advantage of the presence of their important nephew, putting aside the antagonism of the days of the Castel Sant'Angelo. They paraded the tall figure, wearing his rich red robes, through the city so the people of Forlì could gawk at the prince of the church, flanked by two bishops as he blessed children and accepted marks of obeisance. Girolamo wished everyone to know that he still had powerful relatives. The cardinal presided over a splendid Mass in the cathedral and awed the townspeople with the grandeur of Rome.

Several months later, Duke Alfonso of Calabria also arrived in town, with Girolamo's former ally Virgilio Orsini in tow. Custom held that such exalted company would stay in the palace of the leading citizen, while his entourage would be housed in the homes of various local nobles, but word had spread of the count's straitened finances. To spare Girolamo the expense, Duke Alfonso and the Roman noble rented rooms at local inns. Girolamo showed little gratitude for the duke's tactful gesture. Girolamo and Alfonso had faced each other as enemies at the Battle of Campo Morto and had reconciled the following year. After Alfonso had betrayed Pope Sixtus by allying with Florence in the armistice of 1484, Girolamo was apprehensive about the presence of such a powerful but unreliable figure. The count declined to greet the two men, pleading illness. To save face, Caterina mustered the diplomatic skills she had learned in her twenty-two years at court and invited the men to dinner. Despite the count's absence, the two aristocrats were impressed by how elegantly Caterina had navigated her reversal of fortune. No music or theatrical performances accompanied their meal, but fresh local food was exquisitely prepared and her lively conversation convinced the two men that the countess was flourishing in her new role.

Caterina lamented little about life in Forlì, but the dearth of good dressmakers dismayed her greatly. After a lifetime in the great centers of Italian fashion, Caterina balked at the prospect of wearing the simple smocks made of plain materials that were available in Forlì and did her best to keep up with what aristocrats were wearing elsewhere. She wrote to her friend Eleanora of Aragon, the duchess of Ferrara, whose style and beauty were much admired. Despite the enmity between Duke Ercole and Count Girolamo, Eleanora maintained easy and friendly relations with the Riarios, and when Caterina explained her sartorial predicament, the duchess sent her own Maestro Tommaso, the cleverest designer in the region. Caterina ordered a new wardrobe and wrote back effusive thanks, well pleased with the new styles.

As in Rome, correspondence filled her days, but Caterina was no longer saving lives and dispensing patronage in the form of high benefices as she had once done at the papal court. Now she could obtain only a few midlevel jobs at smaller courts for her favorites. At eighteen, she had been one of the most powerful women in Europe; now at twenty-two, she was countess of a relative backwater. Nonetheless she persevered, tending to the education of her oldest son, Ottaviano, now five years old. The Riarios' tight budget precluded hiring illustrious tutors, but Caterina found a local pedagogue to begin teaching the heir. The countess personally ensured that he learned to ride and hunt, hoping to shape a bold Sforza from the soft stuff of the Riarios.

Country life brought both pleasures and discomforts. The severe climate of Forlì required some acclimation. Rome was warm most of the year, with hot weather always posing more of a threat than the cold, but in Romagna winters were harsh and long. Caterina bought twenty-five new warm feather beds to ensure the comfort of everyone in her house. Accustomed to foods from her well-stocked farm outside Rome, where she raised her own livestock and vegetables, she may have preferred the simpler foods of her new home to the complicated confections of the city. Forlì was also surrounded by hilly countryside, ideal for hunting, which perfectly suited the athletic countess.

Though the Riario house dominated Forlì from its position in the main square, it was unassuming compared with the Roman palace destroyed by looters. One particular room, the Hall of the Nymphs, was the family favorite. Overlooking the piazza, the large hall had been painted for Pino Ordelaffi by a local artist, Francesco Menzocchi. The walls pictured nymphs dancing while pensive muses struck dignified poses against a light background—a place for pleasure as well as business. The family hosted receptions, took meals, and often simply whiled away the hours in the luminous, airy space.

While Girolamo kept to his rooms and went out only when surrounded by guards, Caterina tried to participate in the public life of the city, particularly in religious events and feast days. In June 1485, the townspeople arranged the most elaborate procession in the city's history to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi. Throughout the spring, artisans had constructed nineteen papier-mâché floats, each one representing an allegorical scene. The Battuti Neri (the Black Flagellants), a religious confraternity responsible for collecting the abandoned dead, masterminded the whole procession. Caterina not only attended but made a point of lauding the confraternity effusively for its extraordinary work. Although no dark dreams of death had crossed her mind while chanting psalms, the time would soon come when Caterina would be beholden to these dedicated brothers. The countess's public piety was well supplemented with her private charities. The Riario family never turned away beggars empty-handed, and many religious orders prayed daily for their magnanimous Riario benefactors.

Although their main architectural undertaking in Forlì had been the fortress, Girolamo and Caterina had contemplated leaving a religious legacy of their lordship. After the death of Sixtus IV, the painter Melozzo da Forlì resurfaced in Forlì. Pope Innocent took little interest in the arts, and without friends in the Curia, Melozzo had no chance of landing the few projects available. Having served the count well while designing his Roman palace, Melozzo hoped that Girolamo would find work for him. Like Sixtus, who had rebuilt the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo as a family shrine, the Riarios commissioned Melozzo to refashion the Church of San Giovanni in Faliceto into a sophisticated Renaissance monument intended to dwarf Pino Ordelaffi's tomb in the cathedral. After he completed a few drawings and models, however, it became clear to the artist that the Riarios could not finance such a project, and Melozzo allowed himself to be lured away by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, who had taken charge of reconstructing the shrine of Loreto.

On December 18, 1485, Caterina bore her fifth child, another boy. He was named Galeazzo in honor of the father Caterina idolized. Despite his death eight years earlier, Caterina had Galeazzo Maria in the forefront of her mind when she held the Castel Sant'Angelo, and later in life she would use only his surname, Sforza, as her own. Her father defined her ideal of bravery and elegance. Little Galeazzo was also baptized in San Mercuriale. In their boldest bid for peace yet, Caterina and Girolamo asked a personal representative of Lorenzo the Magnificent to serve as godfather to their fourth son. For a brief moment, the count of Forlì seemed to find serenity in his new land.