Contessina Antonia Romola di Lorenzo de' Medici (6 January 1478 – 29 June 1515) was an Italian noblewoman, ninthborn and fifth and last daughter of

Lorenzo the Magnificent Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the '' de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lo ...

, Lord of Florence, and his wife

Clarice Orsini Clarice Orsini (1453 – 30 July 1488) was the daughter of Jacopo Orsini, and Maddalena Orsini; both from the Orsini family, a great Roman noble house, and was the wife of Lorenzo de' Medici. Life Clarice and Lorenzo married 4 June 1469, with a ...

. She was the wife of the Florentine Piero Ridolfi, later made Count Palatine by her elder brother

Pope Leo X Pope Leo 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 and banking Med ...

. She was also cousin of

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII (; ; born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the most unfortunate o ...

Biography

Contessina de' Medici was born on 16 January 1478 in

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

, where her mother and her siblings had taken refuge after the

Pazzi conspiracy The Pazzi conspiracy () was a failed plot by members of the Pazzi family and others to displace the Medici family as rulers of Renaissance Florence. On 26 April 1478 there was an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother ...

. She was baptized in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

shortly after her birth. Her first name, Contessina, was given to her in honor of her paternal great-grandmother, Contessina de' Bardi, 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 House of Medici, Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derive ...

. In May 1494 she married the Piero Ridolfi (1467–1525): a careful marriage to a man from a local Florentine family, planned by her father Lorenzo to counter local anxieties about the ambitions of the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...

, since Florentines were alarmed by the marriages of her siblings

Piero Piero is an Italian language, Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: *Piero Angela (1928–2022), Italian television host *Piero Barucci (born 1933), Italian academic and politician *Piero Cassano (born 1948), Italian keyboardist ...

and Maddalena to powerful families from other cities. Lorenzo's own marriage to Contessina's mother

, the first major Medici marriage to a non-Florentine noble house, had been one of the causes of the tension which led to the Pazzi Conspiracy. In 1513 her brother Giovanni was elected

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

with the name of

Leo X Pope Leo 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 and banking Me ...

. Contessina then moved to Rome with her sisters Lucrezia and Maddalena, where she established herself as an influential woman in papal politics. In 1514, Pope Leo designated all secretaries of the papal curia Counts of the Lateran Court with rights and titles equivalent to an Imperial

Count Palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an or ...

, including his brother-in-law, Contessina's husband. Contessina died on 29 June 1515 and was buried in the Church of Sant'Agostino in Rome. There is no mention of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

'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 and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

Issue

By her husband, Contessina had six children, four sons and two daughters: * Luigi Ridolfi (28 August 1495 – 1556), politician and ambassador; * Emilia Ridolfi (1497 – 1514), married Prince Iacopo 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. Ov ...

, but died before consummating the marriage; * Clarice Ridolfi (1499 – 1524) in turn married Iacopo V Appiano, without issue; * Niccolò Ridolfi (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. * Cosimo Ridolfi (11 August 1508 – 1528).

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 nobility 15th-century Italian women Contessina di Lorenzo Nobility from the Republic of Florence 16th-century Italian nobility 16th-century Italian women 1478 births 1515 deaths