The Building
The Rocca di Ravaldino, also known as the Rocca di Caterina Sforza, was one of Forlì’s defence sites throughout the Middle Ages. In 1471, Pino III Ordelaffi commissioned the architect Giorgio Marchesi Fiorentino to build the still existing fortifications. In 1481, at the behest of the new Lord of Forli, Girolamo Riario, the so-called ‘Cittadella’ was built, with a quadrilateral plan, designed to house strong troops. In 1496 Caterina Sforza, Girolamo Riario’s widow, promoted the construction of a residential palace, known as ‘Il Paradiso’ (Paradise) for its sumptuous appearance. The development of artillery and the radical change in the Italian political order led to the unstoppable degradation of the Rocca, which was used as a prison at the end of the 19th century. A large coat of arms of the Borgia family is still visible on the south side of the Rocca, on the very spot where in 1500 Cesare Borgia made the breach that allowed him to conquer the fortress defended by Caterina Sforza.
Caterina Sforza
Daughter of the Duke of Milan Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Caterina was married at a very young age to Girolamo Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV. After the death of her husband, who fell victim to a conspiracy, and after an unconfessable love affair with the young squire Giacomo Feo, who was also killed, Caterina married Giovanni de’ Medici, known as “il Popolano”, giving birth, thanks to the son who would go down in history as Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, to the branch of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany.
Cesare Borgia, Duke Valentino and son of Pope Alexander VI, in his political plan to conquer Romagna, besieged the fortress defended by Caterina Sforza in December 1499 and conquered it on 12 January 1500.
Caterina Sforza spent her last years of life in Florence where she devoted herself to educating her son and collecting medical, cosmetic and herbal recipes. She died in 1509.