Semiramide Appiano of Aragon (1464 – 9 March 1523) was an Italian noblewoman, daughter of the

Lord of Piombino The Lordship of Piombino (''Signoria di Piombino''), and after 1594 the Principality of Piombino (''Principato di Piombino''), was a small state on the Italian peninsula centered on the town of Piombino and including part of the island of Elba ...

Jacopo III Appiano and wife of

Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici (4 August 1463 – 20 May 1503), nicknamed ''the Popolano'', was an Italian banker and politician, the brother of Giovanni il Popolano. He belonged to the junior (or "Popolani") branch of the House of Med ...

. She was the niece of the famous

Simonetta Vespucci Simonetta Vespucci (; – 26 April 1476), nicknamed ("the fair Simonetta"), was an Italian noblewoman from Genoa, the wife of Marco Vespucci of Florence and the cousin-in-law of Amerigo Vespucci. She was known as the greatest beauty of he ...

Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...

's muse.

Biography

Semiramide Appiani was born in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

in 1464. She was the daughter of Jacopo III Appiano,

and relative of the Aragonas of Naples (his mother was Colia de' Giudici, natural daughter of

Alfonso V of Aragon Alfonso the Magnanimous (Alfons el Magnànim in Catalan language, Catalan) (139627 June 1458) was King of Aragon and King of Sicily (as Alfons V) and the ruler of the Crown of Aragon from 1416 and King of Naples (as Alfons I) from 1442 until his ...

), and of Battistina Fregoso,Dennis Geronimus, ''Piero di Cosimo: Vision beautiful and strange'', Yale University Press daughter of

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

doge Doge, DoGE or DOGE may refer to: Internet culture * Doge (meme), an Internet meme primarily associated with the Shiba Inu dog breed ** Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency named after the meme ** Kabosu (dog), the dog portrayed in the original Doge image ...

Battista Fregoso, sister of doge

Pietro Fregoso Pietro Fregoso (or Campofregoso; 1330 – 22 April 1404) was a statesman who became the 13th Doge of Genoa, serving only a single day in 1393 before ceding the dogeship. Biography His birth date is not known precisely but his father was Rolando ...

and maternal half-sister of the famous

, known for her beauty and alleged lover of

Giuliano de' Medici Giuliano de' Medici (28 October 1453 – 26 April 1478) was the second son of Piero de' Medici (the Gouty) and Lucrezia Tornabuoni. As co-ruler of the Florentine Republic, with his brother Lorenzo the Magnificent, he complemented his broth ...

. In 1478

Lorenzo de' Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lore ...

, Giuliano's older brother and Lord of Florence, arranged a betrothal between Giuliano and Semiramide, but the marriage was never held due to Giuliano's death on 26 April 1478 during the

Pazzi conspiracy The Pazzi conspiracy () was a failed plot by members of the Pazzi family and others to displace the Medici family as rulers of Renaissance Florence. On 26 April 1478 there was an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother ...

. As a result, in 1482, Semiramide was given instead in marriage to

, a cousin of Lorenzo and his protégé. Five children were born from the marriage. Semiramide died in Florence on 9 March 1523 at fifty-eight age.

Issue

By her husband, Semiramide had three sons and two daughters: * Pierfrancesco de' Medici (1487-1525), known as ''Pierfrancesco II the Younger''.To distinguish him by his grandfather Pierfrancesco de' Medici He married Maria Soderini and had two sons and two daughters. * Averardo de' Medici (1488-1494). Died in infancy. * Laudomia de' Medici. In 1502 she married Francesco Salviati. * Ginevra de' Medici. She married Giovanni degli Albizzi and had four sons: Luca (1511-1555, married Laudomia Pitti), Lorenzo (1512-1560), Benedetto (1514-1546, poet) and Francesco (1516-1588, valet of

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III (; ; born Alessandro Farnese; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era follo ...

and

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of the

Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral (), formally the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower ( ), is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Florence in Florence, Italy. Commenced in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed b ...

from 1541). * Vincenzo de' Medici.

References

{{reflist 1464 births 1523 deaths 15th-century Italian nobility Appiani family House of Medici 15th-century people from the Republic of Florence Italian untitled nobility Nobility from the Republic of Florence