Background
Ginevra Sforza was born in Ancona in 1440, the illegitimate daughter of Alessandro Sforza, Lord of Pesaro.
Ginevra Sforza was born in Ancona in 1440, the illegitimate daughter of Alessandro Sforza, Lord of Pesaro.
In 1505 the conspirators who had escaped the carnage petitioned Pope Julius II, who ordered Giovanni II to leave the city with his family. Ginevra, exiled in Parma, where she had taken refuge with the Marquis Pallavicini, was excommunicated because she had not gone far enough from Bologna. Julius II refused to reverse the excommunication, despite numerous pleas, or to return the castle of Ponte Poledrano (now Castello di Bentivoglio), of which he had taken possession.
The Bentivoglio properties in Bologna were looted and the Palazzo Bentivoglio was razed.
Ginevra died on 16 May 1507 and her body was buried in a common grave near Busseto. Giovanni II died the next year.