Barbara Torelli

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Wikipedia

Barbara Torelli (c.1475 – after 1533) was an Italian noblewoman known for her entanglement in the murder of her second husband, Ercole Strozzi. She is supposed to have written a sonnet about his death, which has been much anthologised but also suspected of being a forgery.

Life

Family tree of Barbara Torelli, showing her connection to Francesco Gonzaga, her cousin once removed.

Barbara was born in about 1475 to Marsilio II, fourth count of Montechiarugolo.[1]

In 1491, she married the warlord Ercole Bentivoglio.[1] By 1503, she had separated from him and was having a relationship with the poet Ercole Strozzi. Her first child with Strozzi, Cesare, was born in 1506. They married in September 1507, after Bentivoglio's death, and had a daughter, Giulia, in 1508.[2]

In the morning of 6 June 1508, Strozzi was found dead in the streets near his house with twenty-two stab wounds. It was speculated that the murder was connected with Strozzi’s friend Lucrezia Borgia: either that Lucrezia was jealous of Strozzi’s new wife, or that her husband, Alfonso d'Este, was in love with Barbara. Another suspect was Giangaleazzo Sforza, Ercole Bentivoglio’s brother-in-law who was trying to get Barbara’s dowry back from her first marriage to Bentivoglio. Two days after the murder, Barbara and her two brothers-in-law went to Mantua to ask for Francesco Gonzaga’s help avenging it, but he did not intervene.[3][4]

Several poets, including Aldo Manuzio and Pietro Bembo, wrote obituary verses for Strozzi which emphasised Barbara’s loyalty to him.[2] Barbara is also supposed to have written a sonnet which was performed at his funeral. However, it has been suggested that the sonnet was a forgery by the seventeenth-century anthologist Girolamo Baruffaldi.[5]

Barbara asked Francesco Gonzaga to be godfather to her daughter Giulia,[3] who would go on to be engaged to Alberto Gazolo in 1518.[1] In a letter to Francesco, Barbara accused Bentivoglio's family of both taking her husband from her and trying to take her dowry.[6] The Strozzi brothers also contested her inheritance from her second husband.[1]

In 1525, Barbara married for a third time, to Lazzaro Doria. They travelled from Pisa to Lucca for the wedding in order to avoid paying tax on the dowry.[2]

She spent her last years between Parma and Bologna. She was still alive in 1533, when she dictated her will in Bologna.[2]

Barbara Torelli was portrayed by Pina de Angelis in the 1940 Italian film Lucrezia Borgia.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Russell, Rinaldina (2017-04-19). Sonnet: The Very Rich and Varied World of the Italian Sonnet. Archway Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4808-4580-0.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Lavender, Philip; Amundsen Bergström, Matilda (2023-01-01). Faking It!: The Performance of Forgery in Late Medieval and Early Modern Culture. BRILL. doi:10.1163/9789004106901_007. ISBN 978-90-04-10690-1.
  3. 1 2 Cockram, Sarah D. P. (2016-05-13). Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga: Power Sharing at the Italian Renaissance Court. Routledge. pp. 102–3. ISBN 978-1-317-11272-3.
  4. ↑ Kidwell, Carol (2004). Pietro Bembo: Lover, Linguist, Cardinal. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-7735-2709-6.
  5. ↑ Cox, Virginia (2013-07-31). Lyric Poetry by Women of the Italian Renaissance. JHU Press. pp. 43, 66. ISBN 978-1-4214-0888-0.
  6. ↑ Lucas, Emma (2014-10-20). Lucrezia Borgia. New Word City. ISBN 978-1-61230-815-9.
  7. ↑ Lucrezia Borgia, Scalera Film, 1940-11-29, retrieved 2025-11-11