Lucrezia d'Alagno (c. 1430 – September 23, 1479) was a noblewoman with whom King Alphonso V of Naples had fallen in love. Lucrezia was daughter of Nicholas d'Alagno and Covella Toraldo. Her father, of

Amalfi Amalfi (, , ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto (1,315 metres, 4,314 feet), surrounded by dramatic c ...

tan origin, was lord of

Torre Annunziata Torre Annunziata (; nap, Torr'Annunziata) is a city and commune in the Metropolitan City of Naples, region of Campania in Italy. It is located on the Gulf of Naples at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. History The city was destroyed in the Vesuvius ...

. Alfonso gave Lucrezia and her family lands, titles, and wealth. In 1461, Lucrezia acquired, for example, the Castello del Caiazzo for fifteen thousand

ducats The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wi ...

through the intercession of Alfonso. In 1442 she received the island of

Ischia Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately east to west ...

. Lucrezia in turn entrusted the island's governance to her brother-in-law, Giovanni Torella. The king also asked for an

annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within Law, secular and Religious law, religious legal systems for declaring a marriage Void (law), null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually ex post facto law, retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is c ...

to his marriage with

Maria of Castile Maria of Castile (14 November 1401 – 4 September 1458) was Queen of Aragon and Naples as the spouse of Alfonso V of Aragon. Maria acted as the regent of Aragon during the reign of her spouse, as he was absent during most of his reign; her reg ...

, but

Pope Callistus III Pope Callixtus III ( it, Callisto III, va, Calixt III, es, Calixto III; 31 December 1378 – 6 August 1458), born Alfonso de Borgia ( va, Alfons de Borja), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 April 1455 to his ...

refused it. Lucrezia nevertheless served as de facto queen at the Neapolitan court as well as an inspiring patron to the circle of scholars and poets who surrounded Alfonso, including Antonio Beccadelli and

Giovanni Pontano Giovanni Pontano (1426–1503), later known as Giovanni Gioviano ( la, Ioannes Iovianus Pontanus), was a humanist and poet from Cerreto di Spoleto, in central Italy. He was the leading figure of the Accademia Pontaniana after the death of Antonio ...

. Hopes that Maria would die and make the marriage between Lucrezia and the king possible were dashed when Alfonso himself died in 1458. She died poor and nearly forgotten in 1479.

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Lucrezia d’Alagno

Lucrezia Alagno, Lucrezia d' 15th-century Italian women 1430s births 1479 deaths {{Italy-bio-stub