Ippolita Maria Sforza

Ippolita Maria Sforza (18 April 1445 – 20 August 1488) was an Italian noblewoman, a member of the Sforza family which ruled the Duchy of Milan from 1450 until 1535. She was the first wife of the Duke of Calabria, who later reigned as King Alfonso II of Naples. Ippolita was a very intelligent and cultured young woman. Life Childhood Ippolita was born on April 18 1445 in Cremona to Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti, the only daughter of the Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti. Since she was a child she showed precocity of intellect, love for letters and a certain passion for hunting, favored in this by her father who often gave her greyhounds for their country estates. Francesco Sforza sometimes asked his young daughter to act as an intermediary between him and his mother, so that she could help him to return to the graces of Bianca Maria, the times when he and his wife entered into a quarrel for some reason. She had four masters Guiniforte Barzizza, by Baldo Martorelli, humanist from the Marche region heir to the humanist pedagogy of Vittorino da Feltre, and Costantino Lascaris, who gave her the study of Greek and dedicated a Greek Grammarto her. When she was 14 years old she made a Latin address to pope Pius II at the diet of Mantua, which became well known after it was circulated in manuscript. An alleged portrait of Ippolita was painted Domenico Ghirlandaio.