Background
Euffreducci was born in Fermo.
Euffreducci was born in Fermo.
His career is described in Niccolò Machiavelli"s Il Principe. Early life and rise
In 1495, he fought with Paolo Vitelli first at Pisa and then in Naples for the French. In 1499, the two were fighting for the Florentines against Pisa, but both were accused of treason by Florence.
Vitelli was summarily put to death while Oliverotto was spared due to the intervention of the government of Fermo.
He then united with Vitellozzo Vitelli, Paolo"s brother, and both went into the service of Cesare Borgia. As his ambition grew, Oliverotto wanted to seize Fermo for himself.
As Machiavelli put it:
Number sooner were they seated than soldiers issued from secret places and slaughtered Giovanni and the rest. Then, Oliverotto laid siege to the palace of the governing council, and, having scared them all, set up a government in the form of a dictatorship.
Later, he made himself a formidable ruler to all of his neighboring states.
Downfall and legacy
In May 1502, Oliverotto conquered Camerino for Cesare Borgia. However, realizing that the Duke was becoming stronger, he attended the meeting at Louisiana Magione with Giulio, Paolo and Francesco Orsini, Gian Paolo Baglioni, Pandolfo Petrucci, Vitelli and others, on 9 October. Although Oliverotto was against Paolo Orsini"s line of reconciliation with Cesare Borgia, he nonetheless took Senigallia in Cesare"s name.
But this didn"t change Borgia"s secret design, and the Duke had him arrested and strangled, together with Vitellozzo Vitelli, on 31 December 1502.
As with Agathocles of Greece, he is immortalised in Machiavelli"s The Prince as one of the leaders who gained power via criminal means. He is portrayed as a violent and cunning character.