House of Malatesta


The House of Malatesta was an Italian family that ruled over Rimini from 1295 until 1500, as well as other lands and towns in Romagna and holding high positions in the government of cities in present-day Tuscany, Lombardy and Marche. The dynasty is considered among the most important and influential of the Late Middle Ages. In the period of maximum influence, they extended their domains along the Marche coast, up to Ascoli Piceno, Senigallia, Sansepolcro and Citerna, and to the north, on the territories of Bergamo and Brescia.

History

The family's progenitor is said to be Rodolfo of Carpegna whose fighting spirit yielded him the sobriquet mala testa. From 1004 onward, he built a castle on the rock of Pennabilli.
In the 11th century, the family had possessions in the region of Gabicce Mare, Gatteo, and Poggio Berni. Giovanni Malatesta owned some land between rivers Marecchia and Rubicon, and was the first to settle down in Rimini. His son married into the Traversari family, who were lords of Ravenna and Rimini during the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1186, the Malatesta became lords of Torriana. Giovanni's grandsons Giovanni and Malatesta I Malatesta founded the branches of the Counts of Sogliano al Rubicone and "della Penna" of Pennabilli and Verucchio. In 1216, they became citizens of Rimini.
Malatesta I became podestà of Pistoia in 1228 and of Rimini in 1239 and 1247. During the struggles between papal and imperial followers, he supported emperor Frederick II. His son however, Malatesta da Verucchio, switched sides after the emperor's defeat near Parma in 1248, and became leader of the Guelphs while Guido I of Montefeltro took the lead of the Ghibellines in the Marche and Romagna regions. Malatesta da Verucchio made himself sole master of the city after the expulsion of the family's Ghibelline rivals, the Parcitadi, in 1295. His hunchback son Giovanni Malatesta is chiefly famous because he murdered his wife Francesca da Polenta and his younger brother Paolo in 1285, having discovered them in adultery, and the murder is recorded in Dante's Inferno as well as in a story by Giovanni Boccaccio.
Malatestino I, Giovanni's brother, became capitano of the Guelphs of Bologna in 1296 and of Florence in 1303. In 1312, he destroyed his Ghibelline cousins' castle at Sogliano, and in 1312, he followed his father as lord of Rimini. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Malatestas ruled over a number of cities in the Romagna and the Marche, including Pesaro, Fano, Cesena, Fossombrone, and Cervia. Several Malatestas were condottieri at the service of various Italian states. Malatesta Novello built the Malatestiana Library at Cesena from 1447 to 1452.
The most famous was Pandolfo Malatesta, who was engaged in conflict with the papacy over territorial claims, as well as with his rival Federico da Montefeltro. In the end, he lost almost all of his territories, except for Rimini which he held with the support of the Republic of Venice. He had, however, built the cathedral of Rimini, the Tempio Malatestiano, from 1450. His grandson Pandolfo was eventually expelled from Rimini in 1500 by Cesare Borgia and the city was finally incorporated in the Papal States in 1528, after the last failed attempt of Pandolfo's son, Sigismondo. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the family still provided a number of condottieri; the Sogliano branch extinguished in 1640; the last of the Rimini branch was the Jesuit Roberto Malatesta, and the Ghiaggiolo branch extinguished with Lamberto in 1757.

Malatesta Family Members

Founding Figures

1st Generation (sons of Malatesta da Verucchio)

2nd Generation

;Sons of Malatestino
  • Ferrantino – Lord of Rimini, 1326; deposed and imprisoned by in 1334
;Sons of Paolo
  • Ramberto – murdered by
  • Guido the Archpriest
;Son of Gianciotto
  • Uberto, Count of Giaggolo – murdered by
;Sons of Pandolfo I

3rd Generation

;Sons of Ferrantino
  • Pandolfino
  • Malatestino Novello – imprisoned and probably murdered by
;Sons of Malatesta II
;Sons of Galeotto I

4th Generation

;Sons of Pandolfino
  • Ferrantino Novello
  • Guido – imprisoned and probably murdered by