The Ghost Of Girolamo Riario. Ivo Ragazzini

soldiers and some Forli officials from the Napoleonic era. The fact is that eighty years later, when the fashion for spiritualism arrived, other citizens towards the end of the 1800s, tried to summon people of all kinds to find out what had happened in past”.

      “And these people who did the séances, eighty years after Napoleon's fall, who were they?” asked the researcher.

      “I won't give you the names, but some of them were citizens. Others were former Garibaldians and Republicans. The keeper of the castle who took part in all this was my ancestor and, in 1957 when I was 11 years old, my great-grandfather told me a lot about what they knew and discovered then”.

      “And what did they find out?”

      “Many things about Riario and Caterina Sforza”, replied the witness.

      “All right. Continue to tell me about Riario and Caterina Sforza then”, asked the researcher who was more and more raped and intrigued by the witness's account.

       Who was Girolamo Riario and how did it happen in Romagna?

      The witness begins to narrate:

      “Girolamo Riario was born in Savona, his uncle was Pope Sixtus IV. So he became Count of Imola and Bagnara of Romagna by the will of his uncle who gave him those lands”.

      “Moreover, Girolamo had a brother, Pietro Riario, who thanks to their uncle Pope or, according to some, their father,²⁴ became a very young cardinal and had a lot of ecclesiastical offices and numerous monasteries to manage”.

      “Officially his brother was a cardinal, archbishop, pontifical and many other offices. He was as rich as he was young and it was not possible to understand how much he managed and how many assets he owned”.

      “Just to give an example, at only twenty-six years of age his annual income came to sixty thousand ducats, which was then an enormous sum for anyone”.

      “According to some he was also a little dissolute and lustful, but I would be cautious about that”, concluded the witness.

      “Why?”

      “Because he too was struck, along with Sixtus IV, by another kind of damnatio memoria that consisted of defaming them. He and his Uncle were part of the church and it was harder for those who dealt with these things to attack directly them”.

      “Basically he was involved in some political scheming and gave Rome some historical festivals that, for cost and magnificence, ridiculed those ancient Romans, but it does not seem that he was a dissolute fool as many wanted pass him. On the contrary, like his brother and uncle, he was a fervent protector and observer of the Franciscans rules”.

      “He died suddenly when he was only 28 years old and someone said he was poisoned or indigestion caused by too many revelries and memorable parties he had given, but it seems only that he fell ill during a journey and died”, explained the witness.

      “So, at the death of Pietro Riario, Girolamo inherited his brother's economic and some of his ecclesiastical power, becoming administrator and manager also of his property, so much so that he was nicknamed the Archi-Pope, in contrast to the nickname of Anti-Pope which at that time the Pope's enemies received”.

      “Probably in this days Girolamo Riario became one of the richest men in Italy, but Girolamo was more prudent and careful in managing money than his brother Pietro, so that he did not use give banquets or other pleasures than hunting”.

      “Girolamo Riario was not a vain man, on the contrary he was a courageous and impetuous temperament, but a little reserved in character and, although his uncle was a protector of the Franciscans, he was more suited for the arms than for the church”.

      “So, three years after the death of Cardinal Pietro Riario, Pope Sixtus IV, ran for cover his office and named Girolamo's cousin, Raffaele Riario, who was just 17 years old, as cardinal”.

      “This young cardinal and Girolamo Riario recreated a copy of two trusted nephews in the service of Sixtus IV”.

      “The Pope used them both well, one as his right-hand man in diplomatic and spiritual matters and the other in political and military matters. So he decided to use both them in the struggle for the fall of the Medici and the conquest of Florence”.

      “Florence at that time was a beautiful and rich city, disputed by the Church which looking at Medici as their main enemies and considered the noble Florentine family of Pazzi, their main allies”.

      “The Medici had become very rich and noble thanks to their banks and cash, while the Pazzi were less rich but more noble for centuries and faithful to the church”.

      “In particular, the Pazzi's boasting descending from Pazzino de' Pazzi, a knight who had participated in the first crusade and, with his bare hands, had first climbed the walls of Jerusalem, thus opening the way for all the others crusaders to conquer the city”.

      “Pazzino²⁵ Returning to Florence, with three fragments of stone from the Holy Sepulchre, received as a gift for his undertaking. Then he was celebrated with solemn honours and glory by all Florentines,and since then, their family has been considered noble and at the service of the Church”.

      “So the Pazzi's family were the main allies of Pope Sixtus IV and Riario to attempt the fall of the Medici and try the conquest of Florence, by the famous Pazzi conspiracy²⁶”, concluded the witness his explanation.