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Siege Of Mirandola (1355)
The siege of Mirandola in 1355, was a military conflict involving Francesco II Pico, first lord of Mirandola, against Bernabò Visconti. History War broke out between the Estensi ( guelfs) and the Visconti ( ghibellins), and the latter besieged Mirandola in early December 1355, with an army of 1,500 horsemen and many masnadiers, who raided the surrounding territory and San Felice sul Panaro. In the obvious impossibility of resisting such an enemy force, Francesco II Pico, wishing to maintain the dominion of the Pico family over Mirandola and the court of Quarantoli (reacquired just the previous year, taking it away from the Gonzagas, thanks to the investiture by the Emperor Charles IV, who had arrived in Italy) was forced to surrender and ally himself with the Visconti, whose troops were let into the castle of Mirandola in a friendly manner. Once the siege of Mirandola was over, Francesco II Pico was appointed by Bernabò Visconti as his podestà in Bologna (at the ...
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Mirandola
Mirandola ( Mirandolese: ) is a city and ''comune'' of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, in the Province of Modena, northeast of the provincial capital by railway. History Mirandola originated as a Renaissance city-fortress. For four centuries it was the seat of an independent principality (first a county, then a duchy), a possession of the Pico family, whose most outstanding member was the polymath Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94). It was besieged two times: in 1510 by Pope Julius II and in 1551 by Pope Julius III. It was acquired by the Duchy of Modena in 1710. The city started to decay after the castle of Mirandola was partially destroyed in 1714. On 29 May 2012, a powerful earthquake hit the Mirandola area. It killed at least 17 people and collapsed churches and factories. Also 200 were injured. The 5.8 magnitude quake left 14,000 people homeless. Main sights * The Palazzo del Comune is a 1468 edifice of Gothic style (largely restored in the 19th century), wi ...
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Podestà
Podestà (, English: Potestate, Podesta) was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of Central and Northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a city state, the counterpart to similar positions in other cities that went by other names, e.g. ''rettori'' ("rectors"). In the following centuries up to 1918, the term was used to designate the head of the municipal administration, particularly in the Italian-speaking territories of the Austrian Empire. The title was taken up again during the Fascist regime with the same meaning. The podestà's office, its duration and the residence and the local jurisdiction were called ''podesteria'', especially during the Middle Ages, and in later centuries, more rarely during the fascist regime. Currently, ''podestà'' is the title of mayors in Italian-speaking municipalities of Graubünden in Switzerland, but is not the case for the rest of the C ...
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John Hawkwood
Sir John Hawkwood ( 1323 – 17 March 1394) was an English soldier who served as a mercenary leader or '' condottiero'' in Italy. As his name was difficult to pronounce for non-English-speaking contemporaries, there are many variations of it in the historical record. He often referred to himself as ''Haukevvod'' and in Italy he was known as Giovanni Acuto, literally meaning "John Sharp" (or "John the Astute") in reference to his "cleverness or cunning". His name was Latinised as ''Johannes Acutus'' ("John Sharp"). Other recorded forms are ''Aucgunctur'', ''Haughd'', ''Hauvod'', ''Hankelvode'', ''Augudh'', ''Auchevud'', ''Haukwode'' and ''Haucod''. His exploits made him a man shrouded in myth in both England and Italy. Much of his enduring fame results from the surviving large and prominent fresco portrait of him in the Duomo, Florence, made in 1436 by Paolo Uccello, seen every year by 4½ million tourists. Early life Hawkwood is believed to have been born in about 1323 at S ...
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Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second most populous city in Emilia-Romagna after Bologna, the region's capital. The city is home to the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world. Parma is divided into two parts by the stream of the same name. The district on the far side of the river is ''Oltretorrente''. Parma's Etruscan name was adapted by Romans to describe the round shield called '' Parma''. The Italian poet Attilio Bertolucci (born in a hamlet in the countryside) wrote: "As a capital city it had to have a river. As a little capital it received a stream, which is often dry", with reference to the time when the city was capital of the independent Duchy of Parma. History Prehistory Parma was already a built-up area in the Bronze Age. In the curr ...
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Gil Álvarez Carrillo De Albornoz
Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz more commonly Gil de Albornoz ( es, Egidio Álvarez de Albornoz y Luna; – 23 August 1367), was a Spanish curial cardinal, archbishop of Toledo from 13 May 1338 to 17 December 1350. Grand Penitentiary from December 1352 to August 23, 1364. Cardinal priest with the title of San Clemente from December 17, 1350 to December 1356. Cardinal bishop of Sabina from December 1356 to August 23, 1364. Cardinal legate and vicar general from 30 June 1353 to 1357, who led as condottiere Papal States mercenary armies in two campaigns to reconquer territory in Italy, and statesman. Albornoz was a descendant of the kings of León and Aragón and founder of the Collegio di Spagna, an academic institution of Bologna. Life Early life Albornoz was the son of Garcialuarez Albornoz, IV Lord of Albornoz, tutor to the future King Alfonso XI, originally from Uña, Cuenca, and Doña Teresa de Luna, sister of , archbishop of Toledo and a member of the prominen ...
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Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the European Capital of Gastronomy, included in the Eastern Lombardy District (together with the cities of Bergamo, Brescia, and Cremona). In 2008, Mantua's ''centro storico'' (old town) and Sabbioneta were declared by UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family has made it one of the main artistic, culture, cultural, and especially musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole. Having one of the most splendid courts of Europe of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and early seventeenth centuries. Mantua is noted for its significant role in the history of opera; the city is also known for its architectural treasures and artifacts, elegant palaces, and the m ...
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House Of Gonzaga
) , type = Noble house , country = , estates = Ducal Palace (Mantua)Ducal Palace ( Nevers) , titles = * Prince of Arches * Duke of Montferrat * Duke of Mantua * Duke of Guastalla * Duke of Nevers * Duke of Rethel * Duke of Mayenne * Marquis of Mantua * Marquis of Montferrat * County of Novellara and Bagnolo , founded = , founder = Ludovico I Gonzaga , final ruler = Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga , current head = Maurizio Ferrante Gonzaga , deposition = ( Duchy of Mantua) , cadet branches = Gonzaga di Vescovato(only remaining branch) , ethnicity = Italian The House of Gonzaga (, ) was an Italian princely family that ruled Mantua in Lombardy, northern Italy from 1328 to 1708 (first as a captaincy-general, then margraviate, and finally duchy). They also ruled Monferrato in Piedmont and Nevers in France, as well as many other lesser fiefs throughout Europe. The family includes a saint, ...
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Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 214,000 (). The city is sometimes included, with Venice (Italian ''Venezia'') and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) which has a population of around 2,600,000. Padua stands on the Bacchiglione River, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza. The Brenta River, which once ran through the city, still touches the northern districts. Its agricultural setting is the Venetian Plain (''Pianura Veneta''). To the city's south west lies the Euganaean Hills, praised by Lucan and Martial, Petrarch, Ugo Foscolo, and Shelley. Padua appears twice in the UNESCO World Heritage List: for its Botanical Garden, the most ancient of the world, and the 14th-century Frescoes, situated in d ...
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Carraresi
The House of Carrara or Carraresi (da Carrara) was an important family of northern Italy in the 12th to 15th centuries. The family held the title of Lords of Padua from 1318 to 1405. Under their rule, Padua conquered Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, Feltre, Belluno, Bassano, Aquileia and Udine, thus controlling much of the Veneto and part of Friuli. However, in 1405 Padua and the da Carrara family were defeated by the Republic of Venice, that effectively prevented the creation of a large regional state with Padua as its capital. History As ''signori'' of Padua, their overwhelming power and patronage placed them in an isolated position far outshining any other single family. Their extensive land holdings in the Paduan ''contado'' were supplemented by extensive property within the ''comune'' itself, and their political prominence made them comparable to the Scaligeri of contemporary Verona, or the Visconti of Milan. Margaret Plant has examined how "in its period of domination in Pa ...
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Niccolò II D'Este, Marquis Of Ferrara
Niccolò II d'Este (1338 – 26 March 1388) was lord of Ferrara, Modena and Parma from 1361 until his death. He was the son of Obizzo III, who had ruled in Ferrara from 1317 to 1352. After inheriting his lands from Aldobrandino III, he allied with Padua, Verona and Mantua against Bernabò Visconti and, after a meeting at Viterbo, he managed to obtain also the support of Pope Urban V (1367). During Niccolò's reign, Ferrara started to gain a reputation as an art city. He commissioned to Bartolino da Novara the construction of the Castello Estense The ' (‘Este castle’) or ' (‘St. Michael's castle’) is a moated medieval castle in the center of Ferrara, northern Italy. It consists of a large block with four corner towers. History On 3 May 1385, the Ferrarese people, driven to des ... after a popular revolt in 1385. References * * * Antonio Menniti Ippolito, Este, Niccolò II d’, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, XLIII, Roma 1993, pp. 393–396 ...
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Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. A town, and seat of an archbishop, it is known for its car industry since the factories of the famous Italian upper-class sports car makers Ferrari, De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani (automobile), Pagani and Maserati are, or were, located here and all, except Lamborghini, have headquarters in the city or nearby. One of Ferrari's cars, the Ferrari 360, 360 Modena, was named after the town itself. Ferrari's production plant and Formula One team Scuderia Ferrari are based in Maranello south of the city. The University of Modena, founded in 1175 and expanded by Francesco II d'Este in 1686, focuses on economics, medicine and law, and is the second oldest :wikt:athenaeum, athenaeum in Italy. Italian military officers are trained at the Milit ...
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