Malatesta
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Malatesta
Malatesta
an Italian feudal family that from the late 13th to the early 16th centuries ruled in Rimini and extended its domination over part of Romagna and over Ancona of the Marches. The fierce struggle for power within the Malatesta family was accompanied by many perfidious assassinations; the tragic story of Francesca, the wife of one Malatesta in the early 14th century, has been immortalized by Dante in the Divine Comedy.
The most famous of the Malatestas, Sigismondo Pandolfo I (1417-68), surrounded himself with philosophers and scholars and collected a marvelous library. He also fought in many wars and served successively as condottiere of the pope, the rulers of Florence, and Alfonso of Aragon; in these wars he lost most of his possessions and entered the service of Venice. The Malatestas lost Rimini once and for all in 1528.