Laura Orsini (

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 ...

, 30 November 1492 - Rome, 1530) was an Italian noblewoman, daughter of

Giulia Farnese Giulia Farnese (1474 – 23 March 1524) was an Italian noblewoman, a mistress to Pope Alexander VI, and the sister of Pope Paul III. Known as ''Giulia la bella'', meaning "Julia the beautiful" in Italian, Giulia was a member of the noble Farnese ...

and, presumably, of her lover Pope Alexander VI Borgia.

Biography

Laura Orsini was born in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, on 30 November 1492. She was the only child of

( Pope Paulus III's sister). Her paternity is instead controversial: the baby girl was declared daughter of Giulia's legitimate husband, Orsino Orsini, however at the time of her birth Giulia was notoriously the lover of Pope Alexander VI Borgia, and later she declared that her daughter was born from these relationship, although Borgia never recognized or cared for Laura, unlike what he did for his other children. The question is currently being debated. On 2 April 1499 at

Palazzo Farnese Palazzo Farnese () or Farnese Palace is one of the most important High Renaissance List of palaces in Italy#Rome, palaces in Rome. Owned by the Italian Republic, it was given to the French government in 1936 for a period of 99 years, and cur ...

Laura was promised in marriage to Federico Farnese, son of Raimondo Farnese and nephew of Pier Paolo Farnese. The engagement was later dissolved. On 16 November 1505 she married Nicola Franciotti della Rovere, with a dowry of 300,000

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 ...

. The marriage had been organized by Pope Julius II della Rovere, the groom's uncle and successor and enemy of Alexander VI, who wished to ally himself with the Farnese and

Orsini Orsini is a surname of Italian origin, originally derived from Latin ''ursinus'' ("bearlike") and originating as an epithet or sobriquet describing the name-bearer's purported strength. Notable people with the surname include the following: *Angel ...

families. The couple had two children: Giulio (died 1550) and

Lavinia della Rovere In Roman mythology, Lavinia ( ; ) is the daughter of Latinus and Amata, and the last wife of Aeneas. Creation It has been proposed that the character was in part intended to represent Servilia Isaurica, Emperor Augustus's first fiancée. Story ...

( 1521 - 26 July 1601), who married Paolo Orsini di Mentana. From her legal father Orsino Laura received the

Carbognano Carbognano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo in the Italy, Italian region Latium, located about northwest of Rome and about southeast of Viterbo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,992 and an area of .All dem ...

feud as gift, which was then inherited by Lavinia. Laura died in Rome in 1530, around thirty-eight age.{{Cite web , title=DELLA ROVERE, Lavinia in "Dizionario Biografico" , url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/lavinia-della-rovere_(Dizionario-Biografico) , access-date=2022-12-14 , website=www.treccani.it , language=it-IT

References

1492 births 1530 deaths Italian untitled nobility Italian nobility Nobility from Rome 16th-century Italian women Renaissance women Orsini family House of Farnese House of Borgia Illegitimate children of Pope Alexander VI Illegitimate children of popes