Isabella Fieschi (''

floruit ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

'' 1356), was a

lady of Milan Lady of Milan Early consorts ''The name wives and consorts of the early Della Torre lords of Milan are not known. But Napoleone della Torre may have been married to a Margherita di Baux.'' House of Visconti, 1277–1302 House of della To ...

by marriage to

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the fat ...

, lord of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. She was the daughter of the Genuese noble

Carlo Fieschi Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

, count of

Savignone Savignone ( lij, Savignon) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about north of Genoa. Savignone borders the following municipalities: Busalla, Casella, Crocefieschi, Mignanego, ...

, and the niece of

Pope Adrian V Pope Adrian V (Latin: ''Adrianus V''; c. 1210/1220 – 18 August 1276), born Ottobuono de' Fieschi, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 July 1276 to his death on 18 August 1276. He was an envoy of Pope Cle ...

. The marriage was arranged as an alliance between Genoa and Milan, and the ceremony took place in Milan in 1331. Isabella was known for her beauty and her love life, and reportedly had several lovers. In 1347, she made an official visit to Venice. During her visit, she participated in an orgy during which she had sexual intercourse with three men at the same time, among them being

Andrea Dandolo Andrea Dandolo (13067 September 1354) was elected the 54th doge of Venice in 1343, replacing Bartolomeo Gradenigo who died in late 1342. Early life Trained in historiography and law, Andrea Dandolo studied at the University of Padua, where ...

, the Doge of Venice, and the nephew of her spouse,

Galeazzo II Visconti Galeazzo II Visconti ( – 4 August 1378) was a member of the Visconti dynasty and a ruler of Milan, Italy. His most notable military campaigns were against Pope Gregory XI, around 1367. These battles fought between the papacy and the Viscon ...

. Tuchman, Barbara W. (Swedish): ''En Fjärran Spegel. Det stormiga 1300-talet'' ('' A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century'') Atlantis, Stockholm, 1994. , p. 150 When her husband eventually found out about this, he swore to punish her cruelly. When he died shortly thereafter, he was rumoured to have been poisoned by Isabella in self-defence. After the death of Visconti, Isabella was forced to give up her son's rights to power in Milan and was placed under house arrest. In 1356, Isabella managed to escape from Milan. Reportedly, she returned to her family in Savignone.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fieschi, Isabella 14th-century Genoese people 14th-century Italian nobility 14th-century Italian women Fieschi family