Fabrizio Maramaldo

Fabrizio Maramaldo (1494 – December 1552) was an Italian condottiere.

An illiterate native of Naples or Calabria, his exact origins are unknown, though he hailed from the Kingdom of Naples, and was perhaps of Spanish origin. He fled Naples after having murdered his wife and sought protection at the Gonzaga under Federico II, Duke of Mantua, and in the Republic of Venice. In 1526 he was absolved of the crime of uxoricide by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. He fought the Ottomans in Hungary, and the French in Piedmont. He suffered a grievous setback in the siege he laid to the city of Asti in 1526 where, after having breached the walls by cannon fire for a final assault, legend narrates that victory was snatched from his grasp by the intervention of the town's patron saint, St.Secondus of Asti who is said to have appeared in the sky. Fighting on the imperial side, he took part in the Sack of Rome the following year, and three years later, in the siege of Florence. He gained a reputation as a ruthless mercenary and ravager.

The black name he earned in Italian history and popular memory came from the way he despatched Francesco Ferrucci, the captain of the Florentine army. Maramaldo fought for the Duke of Orange, for the restoration of the Medici, against the army of the Florentine Republic. The two forces clashed in the town of Gavinana on the 3rd. of August 1530, and Maramaldo murdered his old enemy, who had been grievously wounded and taken prisoner, against the principles of chivalrous conduct in wartime. There are many differing accounts of the episode, the incident being much favoured in early historical accounts and fiction. Massimo d'Azeglio in his historical novel reimagined the scene, as recounted by the character Fanfulla, thus:-

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