Roberto Malatesta

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Roberto Malatesta (c. 1442 - September 10 [1], 1482) was an Italian condottiero and lord of Rimini, a member of the famous House of Malatesta.

[edit] Biography

Roberto was an illegitimate son of Sigismondo Pandolfo and his lover Vanetta Toschi of Fano, but had been legitimate to the succession by Pope Nicholas V in 1450.

Malatesta debuted as condottiero very early leading a corp of Papal troops in southern Italy. After his father death, he was sent to capture Rimini, which was held by Sigismondo's lover Isotta and Roberto's half-brothers, Sallustio and Valerio. According to the tradition, he entered the Rocca ("Citadel") of the city disguised as a peasant, and took the city in the name of the Pope, but soon started to act independently. On August 30, 1469, thanks to the support of Federico, duke of Urbino, he decisively defeated the Papal troops sent to oust him. In the following years he murdered his two half-brothers, and is said to have poisoned Isotta also. In 1475 he was finally invested with the vicariate of Rimini by the new pope, Sixtus IV; in the same years he married to Federico's daughter, Isabella. Sixtus punished him wih the excommunication for its moves against his relative, Girolamo Riario, who was trying to establish a seigniory in Romagna. Roberto reacted invading the Papal States, and, through Federico's mediation, he could re-conciliate with the pope.

His great achievement was the liberation of Rome by the victory of Campo Morto (21 August 1482), when, at the head of the Venetian and Papal forces, he completely defeated the royal army of Naples under the command of Duke Alfonso of Calabria.

However, Roberto died of fever while pursuing the campaign, in the following month.

His son Pandolfo, nicknamed Pandolfaccio ("Bad Pandolfo") for his cruelty, was expelled from Rimini by Cesare Borgia in 1500. After several brief restorations of the Malatestas, the city was finally incorporated into the Papal States in 1528.