Key to Umbria: Città di Castello
 

Città di Castello in the 15th Century


Umbria:  Home   Cities    History    Art    Hagiography    Contact 

   

Città di Castello:  Home    History    Art    Saints    Walks    Monuments    Museums

Fortebracci Family (1422-35)

Pope Martin V granted the vicariate of Città di Castello to its commune in August 1420.  However, he granted it to Braccio Fortebraccio in 1422 as part of a larger settlement.   He probably hoped that this would alienate Braccio from Florence, but in fact the Florentines helped him to take the city, which fell to him in September 1422 after a siege of two months.

On Braccio's death in 1424, his widow was allowed to hold the city for her infant son Carlo, and she was also granted the vicariate for three years of Montone and Gualdo Cattaneo.  However, when she refused to surrender these last two possessions when the vicariate expired in 1427, she was declared a rebel and was driven out of all the lands she held from the pope (including Città di Castello, in 1428).  The city now passed to the Church, and Gaspare Colonna (a relative of Martin V) was installed in 1429 as its first papal governor.

In May 1431, early in the reign of Pope Eugenius IV, Nicolò Fortebraccio (the nephew of Braccio Fortebraccio) laid siege to Città di Castello, which he regarded as part of his family inheritance. However, he withdrew when Perugia sent troops against him.  In September 1431, a number of exiles, including the Guelfucci persuaded Guidantonio da Montefeltro to help them return to the city and to act as its Governor.  Eugenius IV seems subsequently to have confirmed this arrangement. 

Nicolò Fortebraccio remained a threat until he was appointed as captain general of the papal forces in September 1341 and called away in October 1431 to Perugia.  Nicolò Fortebraccio made another attempt to take the city in June 1432, but Guidantonio da Montefeltro held out with Perugian help.  Nicolò Fortebraccio was recalled to papal duties in August 1432, when he was required at the siege of Vetralla.  Guidantonio da Montefeltro continued to hold the city until November 1432, when the city rebelled against him.  Nicolò Fortebraccio took it in January 1433 and held it until his death in August 1435.

Mid-15th Century

After the Battle of Anghiari (1440) near Borgo San Sepulcro, Florence took Borgo San Sepulcro and Città di Castello, despite the disapproval of her erstwhile ally, Eugenius IV.

Città di Castello suffered an attack of plague in 1451 that ended on the feast of Sant’ Anna,  Her protection was subsequently acknowledged with an annual procession on her feast day.

Amodeo Giustini and his son Lorenzo (who served as a condottiere in the papal army) achieved prominence in the city in the 1460s.  [Amodeo became Prefect of Rome - when ???]

Nicolò Vitelli (died 1486)

The Vitelli family entered the civic life of Città di Castello in the early 15th century when Giovanni Vitelli, the son of a rich Genoese wool merchant, married Maddalena del Monte, the heir to the Castello di Petriola.  Their children subsequently married into other noble families of the city, and the Vitelli and their allies emerged in the 1460s as the leading opponents of the Giustini and their allies, the Fucci.

At this time, the Vitelli house was in the parish of Santa Maria, near the city gate of that name, probably in the house at 11 Via Mattoni that bears their arms along with those of the Medici of Florence.  They patronised the ancient parish church of Santa Maria that stood just inside the walls, and it was here that they and their allies welcomed Giovanni Ghiaderoni, the new Sienese bishop, when he arrived to take up his position in 1460.  They then proceeded in great style along Via Mattoni (so-called because it was one of the first in the city to be paved in brick) to the Duomo. 

In 1468, Giovanni’s son, Nicolò became aware of a Giustini plot to murder his family, which had the approval of Pope Paul II.  He sprang to arms and drove the rival faction from the city.  Paul II tried to intervene on behalf of the exiles, but in 1470 he came to terms with the Vitelli.  Nicolò was now the Lord of Città di Castello, as Papal Vicar. 

In 1474, partly at the behest of Lorenzo Giustini and partly because he wanted the city for one of his nephews, Pope Sixtus IV sent troops under his nephew Giuliano della Rovere (the future Pope Julius II) and Federico II da Montefeltro to besiege it.  Vitelli enjoyed the moral support of Lorenzo de' Medici and Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan, although they were unable to provide material support.  However, Federico da Montefeltro negotiated a settlement that saved face for all participants.  The Vitelli were exiled but received full compensation for all their property, and the exile of the Giustini continued (although other exiles were allowed to return).  Federico was created Duke of Montefeltro in recognition of his services, and Sixtus IV received Nicolò in Rome with full honours.   Sixtus IV secured the papal position in Città di Castello by building a new fortress near Porta Santa Maria in the parish that the Vitelli had dominated.

Meanwhile, Nicolò and his family (which included four sons: Giovanni, Vitellozzo, Camillo and Paolo) lived out their exile in Florence until, in the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy of 1482, the Florentines encouraged Nicolò Vitelli re-take Città di Castello.  He and his troops entered via the secondary Porta di Sant Andrea, but met resistance from the papal forces who held the old fortress near Porta di San Giacomo, the new one near Porta di Santa Maria and the so-called Cassero near the Duomo.  They laid siege to these strongholds and managed to take them after about a month.  Vitellozzo Vitelli then demolished them [including San Giacomo???]. 

Lorenzo Giustini returned with papal troops in 1483 and camped at Colle Angiolino outside the city.  Nicolò mounted a night attack on the camp and, although Lorenzo Giustini escaped, he captured most of the other enemy troops.  In a celebrated act of magnanimity, he subsequently staged a public reconciliation with his erstwhile enemies and freed those of the prisoners who wished to live peacefully in the city.  The citizens marched in procession from the Duomo to what was by now effectively the Vitelli’s church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where the service of reconciliation was held.

When Florence made peace with Sixtus IV, the city was forced to agree that the Vitelli would once more withdraw.  However, Nicolò was made papal governor of Campagna and Maritimma and his sons were given papal condotte. 

In 1485, Nicolò was allowed to return to the city, and was given the title Pater Patriae when he died a year later.  His eldest son Giovanni soon followed him to the grave. 

Vitellozzo, Camillo (d. 1496) and Paolo Vitelli (d. 1499)   

These three brothers took over the rule of Città di Castello after the death of their father. 

When Paolo Vitelli murdered Lorenzo Giustini in Rome in 1487, Pope Innocent VIII commuted his death sentence to 10 years exile from the city.  Pope Alexander VI granted a pardon in 1492. 

When the Medici were expelled from Florence in 1494, Cardinal Giovanni dei Medici (the future Pope Leo X) took refuge first with the Vitelli in Città di Castello.

Paolo, Vitellozzo and Camillo entered the service of King Charles VIII of France in 1494.  Camillo was killed fighting for France in southern Italy in 1496. 

In 1497, Alexander VI began to take his revenge against those Italians who had supported the Franch.  He sent an army under his son Juan, Duke of Gandia against the Orsini fortress at Bracciano.  The French supported an army of Orsini allies, which included Vitellozzo Vitelli, and Gandia was forced to withdraw.  Alexander VI decided to offer terms, which included his recognition of Vitellozzo Vitelli as Signor of Città di Castello.  (Paolo Vitello had been taken prisoner by the Venetians at the Battle of Atella in 1496, but was released shortly afterwards)

Paolo and Vitellozzo entered the service of Florence and engaged in the war against Pisa.  This relationship ended in 1499 when the Florentines accused them of treason when they recalled the army from an opportunity to take Pisa.  Vitellozzo escaped but the Florentines captured and executed Paolo.


Return to the page on the History of Città di Castello.