Isabella de' Medici

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Isabella Romola de' Medici (31 August 1542 – 16 July 1576) was the daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleonora di Toledo.

[edit] Biography

She was born in Florence.

In 1553, when she was only 11 years old, Isabella was betrothed to Paolo Giordano Orsini, a violent condottiero who held the Duchy of Bracciano, a southern neighbour to Tuscany. The two married in 1558.

Isabella allegedly had an open character that created rumours about her behaviour, especially in regard to the nature of her relationship with Troilo Orsini, Paolo Giordano's cousin, who was to look after her while the Giordano was away tending to military duties.

Paolo Giordano eventually was informed of Isabella's infidelity. His powerful father having died, the duke had Isabella strangled in the Villa di Cerreto Guidi, near Florence, probably with the complicity of the new Grand Duke, her brother Francesco. Troilo was killed in the same fashion in Paris some months later.

According to tradition, Isabella's restless ghost appears periodically in several places which she inhabited, including the Odescalchi Castle on Lake Bracciano, near Rome.