Ambito_Fiorentino_-_Ritratto_di_donna_-_Galleria_Palatina

Contessina Antonia Romola di Lorenzo de' Medici (

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...

, 1478 -

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 29 June 1515) was an Italian noblewoman, ninth child and fifth and last daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Lord of Florence, and his wife Clarice Orsini. She was the wife of the Count Palatine Piero Ridolfi and younger sister of

Pope Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...

Biography

Contessina de' Medici was born in 1478 in

, where her mother and her siblings had taken refuge after the Pazzi conspiracy. She was baptized in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. Her first name, Contessina, was given to her in honor of her paternal great-grandmother,

Contessina de' Bardi Contessina de' Bardi (1390–October 1473), was an Italian noblewoman from the House of Bardi. Her marriage into the House of Medici provided her husband's family with much needed nobility, prestige, and military support as they established th ...

, wife of

Cosimo de' Medici Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealth ...

. She married the Count Palatine Piero Ridolfi (1467-1525) in May 1474: a prestigious marriage which further confirmed the continue rising power of the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

. In 1513 her brother Giovanni was elected Pope with the name of Leo X. Contessina then moved to Rome with her sisters Lucrezia and Maddalena, where she established herself as an influential woman in papal politics. Contessina died on 29 June 1515 and was buried in the Church of Sant'Agostino in Rome. Since there is no news of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

's possible infatuation with her before 1845, so it is probably a legend born in the

Romantic era Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

Issue

By her husband, Contessina had five children, three sons and two daughters: * Luigi Ridolfi (28 August 1495-1556), politician and ambassador; * Emilia Ridolfi (1497-1514), married Prince Jacopo V Appiano, Lord of

Piombino Piombino is an Italian town and ''comune'' of about 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno (Tuscany). It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the northern side of Maremma. Ove ...

, but died before consummating the marriage; * Clarice Ridolfi (1499-1524) in turn married Jacopo V Appiano; *

Niccolò Ridolfi Niccolò Ridolfi (1501 – 31 January 1550) was an Italian cardinal. Early life Born in Florence, son of Piero Ridolfi and Contessina de' Medici (the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent). His father was a Gonfaloniere of Justice. ...

(16 August 1501-1550), cardinal; *

Lorenzo Ridolfi Lorenzo may refer to: People * Lorenzo (name) Places Peru * San Lorenzo Island (Peru), sometimes referred to as the island of Lorenzo United States * Lorenzo, Illinois * Lorenzo, Texas * San Lorenzo, California, formerly Lorenzo * Lorenzo State ...

(6 September 1503-1576), knight and apostolic secretary.

Notes

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Sources

*https://web.archive.org/web/20070927014822/http://documents.medici.org/people_details.cfm?personid=4973 * Tomas, Natalie R. (2003). The Medici Women: Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 0754607771. 15th-century Italian women Contessina di Lorenzo Nobility from Florence 16th-century Italian women