Ippolita Maria Sforza

Ippolita Maria Sforza
Duchess of Calabria
Francesco Laurana, bust of a Princess of the House of Naples traditionally identified with Ippolita Maria Sforza
Born	18 April 1446 Cremona
Died	20 August 1484(1484-08-20) (aged 38) Naples
Spouse	Alfonso, Duke of Calabria
Issue	Ferdinand II of Naples Isabella of Aragon Piero, Prince of Rossano
House	House of Sforza
Father	Francesco I Sforza, Duke of Milan
Mother	Bianca Maria Visconti
Religion	Roman Catholic

Ippolita Maria Sforza (18 April 1446 – 20 August 1484) was an Italian noble woman, a member of the Sforza family which ruled the Duchy of Milan from 1450 until 1535. She was the first wife of Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, who later reigned as King Alfonso II of Naples.

Ippolita was born in Cremona on 18 April 1446, the eldest daughter of Francesco I Sforza, Duke of Milan, and Bianca Maria Visconti. She had six brothers and one younger sister.

Her paternal grandparents were Muzio Sforza, a renowned condottiero, and Lucia di Torsano, and her maternal grandparents were Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan and Agnese del Maino, daughter of Ambrogio del Maino, a Milanese nobleman and ducal questore.

Ippolita was a very intelligent and cultured young woman. She was tutored by the Greek scholar and grammarian Constantine Lascaris, who taught her philosophy and Greek. With his brothers and brothers she was taught in a palace school. When she was 14 years old she made a Latin address to pope Pius II at the diet of Mantua, which became well known after it was circulated in manuscript.

She composed many letters. These have been published in Italy in a single volume entitled, The Letters of Ippolita Maria Sforza, and edited by Serena Castaldo. Previously, in 1893, in Bologna, F. Gabotto published a collection of Ippolita's letters which she had written in Naples from 1475 to 1482.

Apart from epistolary activity, her notable writings include poetry and a Latin eulogy for her father Francesco.

On 10 October 1465, in Milan, Ippolita, aged nineteen, married Alfonso, Duke of Calabria (4 November 1448 – 18 December 1495), the eldest son of King Ferdinand I of Naples and Isabella of Clermont, Duchess of Calabria. He would later reign briefly as King Alfonso II of Naples. Ippolita was never crowned Queen consort as her death occurred ten years before Alfonso attained the Neapolitan throne. The marriage of Alfonso and Ippolita was politically advantageous as it created a powerful alliance between the Kingdom of Naples and the Duchy of Milan, which was one of the most important of the 15th-century Italian city-states. Ippolita was Alfonso's first wife. Her initially harmonious marriage descended into rivalry and contempt; her husband Alfonso, perhaps threatened by her high level of education or disdainful of her pedigree, treated her with a lack of respect throughout the marriage.