The women of the Malatesta Seignory

Whether by birth or due to marriage, these important female figures were part of the Malatesta Seignory that governed Rimini and its surroundings for two centuries from 1200 onwards. Restless, passionate, proud and enthusiastic, when called upon they were also capable of ruling and fighting.

Concordia dei Pandolfini, the first wife of Malatesta da Verucchio, known as “the Centenarian” (1212-1312), was the daughter of an official of the Empire of Frederic II of Svevia. Although not a beautiful woman, she was strong, with straight shoulders and wide hips, and built for hard work. Indeed she gave birth to heirs Malatestiano, Rengarda, Giovanni, Paolo e Ramberto.

The fundamental “changes” in the Malatesta dynasty began with Francesca, Costanza and Parisina - women who broke the rules and ethical codes of conduct of the time, inevitably paying a high price for their actions, but arousing the interest of supreme poets like Dante, Byron and d'Annunzio.

Francesca, the wife of Gianciotto, was the protagonist of the famous story narrated by Dante in his V canto of the Inferno, guilty of committing adultery with her brother-in-law Paolo “the Handsome”. Seduced by the passionate amatory models of French poetry and literature, so far from the traditions she was a part of that saw marriage as a political tool, she shared a tragic death with her lover.

The only illegitimate daughter of Malatesta “the Hungarian”, Costanza Malatesta grew up in the court of Pesaro. She married the Marquis Ugo d’Este and when she became a widow, aged just twenty and with a rich dowry, she soon found comfort elsewhere. It is said she was “found lying in the bed” of a German mercenary called Ormanno. Shamed and angered, her uncle Galeotto ordered one of his men to kill them both.

Parisina was also decapitated along with her lover, the beautiful illegitimate son of her husband Niccolò III d’Este; a tragic event that featured in a poem penned by George Byron.

In the 15th century another important female figure came to the fore in the family; Isotta degli Atti, was first concubine and then wife of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, who was already married for the second time with Polissena, the daughter of Francesco Sforza. Sigismondo Pandolfo first fell in love with Isotta when she was just twelve years old and dedicated a chapel and monumental sepulchre in the Malatesta Temple in Rimini to her when still married to Polissena.

In his first marriage, Sigismondo had wed Ginevra d’Este, the daughter of Niccolò III d’Este, probably the woman immortalized in the beautiful portrait by Pisanello housed in the Louvre. Finally, in his third marriage, Sigismondo married Isotta, forgoing a state marriage, which had always been a strategic factor in the policies of the Malatesta family.

In 1461, Pope Pius XI excommunicated Sigismondo, accusing him of having killed his wives Ginevra and Polissena: Ginevra is thought to have been poisoned, whilst Polissena is thought to have been suffocated with a towel.

The power of the Malatesta family faded in the early 16th century. In fact, the last great lady-in-waiting was Violante Bentivoglio, the wife of Pandolfo Malatesta, who paid for the fall of the Malatesta and Sforza families, ending her life in poverty.