CATERINA SFORZA
Film “Caterina Sforza”
Historical biography
“The life of Caterina Sforza, a bold and courageous Renaissance woman who challenged powerful people and popes to defend her lands”
Production Companies: Mania Entertainment | The Film Co-Operative LLC
Producer: Nuala Quinn-Barton
Writer: Francesca Borrelli
Synopsis:
Caterina, illegitimate daughter of the duke of Milan, educated in military strategies and the use of arms, is betrothed at age 10 to Girolamo Riario, the Pope’s ruthless nephew.
When the Pope’s opponents turn against her family upon his death, the heavily pregnant 21-year-old Caterina, taking the place of her husband, commander of the papal guard, takes possession of the arsenal of Castel Sant’Angelo to influence the election of a Pope favorable to her family, threatening the cardinals, who, however, persuade her husband to leave Rome and retire to provincial Forlì.
Caterina must give in and retreats to Forlì, where she befriends Tommaso, castellan of the fortress that controls the county, and the barber/writer Andrea. The loyalty and friendship of these two men will prove crucial throughout her life.
When her husband is killed in a conspiracy, she manages to send a message to Tommaso before she is taken prisoner, in which she orders him not to surrender the fortress. Caterina obtains permission from the papal legate to enter alone to negotiate the surrender, granted while her children remain hostage, but once inside she organizes resistance.
When the conspirators threaten to hang her sons, Caterina, lifting her skirts and touching her pubis, tells them to hang them because she knew how to make more. With the arrival of her uncle’s troops from Milan, Caterina regains the counties as regent on behalf of her son Ottaviano.
Caterina secretly marries Giacomo, a stable boy, a relationship that, if made public, would ruin her. The power-hungry Giacomo makes many enemies and dies in a conspiracy, triggering Caterina’s tremendous revenge. After hitting rock bottom, helped by Tommaso e Andrea, she recovers.
She was the only one in Italy to fight Cesare Borgia allied with the French. After a strenuous resistance in which she almost manages to capture Borgia, she has to surrender. After a hard year of imprisonment, her release is enforced by a French captain who helps her leave the papal state unharmed with a ruse to avoid the tremendous revenge of the Borgias, then retires to Florence.