The Feo family, which had established a firm foothold in Forli, had followed Girolamo Riario from Savona to Rome and from there to Forli and Imola, eager to prove their loyalty and to reap the benefits of it.

While Tommaso had been the first to succeed, he was soon eclipsed. Late in 1489 Caterina fell recklessly in love with Tommaso’s brother, Giancomo Feo, who was about eighteen years old, used to work for her husband as a page. During her marriage to Girolamo, Caterina had been a faithful wife. In those days, she might have been attracted to Giancomo. However, he had been too young, and she had been tied up with the domestic affairs because of her husband’s illness. The presence of her husband had been emotionally and sensually more than enough for Caterina, who had hardly extra space in her heart and extra time to spare in accepting another man’even if he turned out exceptionally handsome and desirable.

Regardlessly, Caterina had inherited a passionate blood from her father. All her life, she had placed somebody in the niche of her heart as an idol she wanted to love and admire. Girolamo gone forever now, she needed somebody to fill that empty niche and Giancomo seemed the natural choice because she had known him for quite some time. Besides, he appeared young and malleable enough for her to be able to mold him into the niche so that she could love him to her heart’s content.

Though faithful to her husband, Caterina had been unsatisfied emotionally, if not happy, in her marriage. Therefore, ever since his death, she had never visited his sepulcher at the Church of San Francesco. Yet in the past she had fulfilled her duties as the duchess of Forlì and Imola, giving Girolamo hair and supporting him wholeheartedly since she became his wife.

Now, the revolt was over and the domestic affairs went well under control, Caterina suddenly felt empty both in her bedchamber and in the niche of her heart. Like her father, distant and chaste adoration was not the ideal way for her to love a person. Caterina might not have been a femme fatal, but she was well-experienced enough to know the desire and mind of the eighteen-year-old. Besides, she was in a position to take a full advantage of the situation. Soon the freshly awakened love bound Caterina and Giancomo to each other.

Her sensual joy over a newly found love was intensified by her conviction that this time no political necessities would force upon her another painful sacrifice. For weeks the love affair remained a well-kept secret and the routine of Forlì went on as usual.

Although she had a well-experienced woman in the bedchamber, Caterina seemed too naive to judge the personality of a man and too confident of her own power and ability in molding the man’s characters to her liking.

At first Caterina could take an upper hand in satisfying both his needs and hers. She found it rewarding to teach him the secrets of lovemaking—the sensuality of women in general, and realized that Giancomo was a fast learner—willing and well-responding to her teaching. To her delight and surprise, Caterina had tasted the thrill and rapture for the first time in her life, ending up with a mind-blowing burst of sheer ecstasy she had never experienced with her late husband. Girolamo, eighteen years her senior, didn’t pay much attention to her needs and reached it fairly quickly in bed, and then went into sleep, leaving her—unsatisfied emotionally and sexually.

Caterina now realized that, with a less confident and unassertive male, she could express her own sexuality with ease. She had always felt dominated by her late husband who imposed his sexual rhythms on her. Now she became the initiator, and taught him in her own way. She had never been this happy both in and out of bed.

However, this didn’t last long. Gradually, Giancomo became bold and learned how to please the woman in her sensual prime. Soon, to her chagrin, Caterina found that it was Giancomo, not her, who took an upper hand in the pleasure of lovemaking. Gradually, she lost her control in bed because the young man now knew exactly how to handle the mature woman, giving her a series of raptures at will, and drawing his own satisfaction by watching her writhe in intolerable stimulation.

To make the matter worse, Giancomo behaved like an obsessive and possessive husband—even out of bed. Their love affair had been a public secret for some time, and he gathered his own yes-men around. Whenever he went out of the castle, he led a procession like the duke of Forlì and Imola.

Of course, these unbelievable events were reported to her uncle—Lodovico Sforza or Il Moro, the guardian for the Duke of Milan, who advised her not to make a foolish mistake unless Caterina wanted to give an excuse to her enemies, such as the Pope and the surrounding states, so that they could raid Forlì.

Although she knew that Giancomo went a little bit too far, Caterina was now heels over the head in love with him and didn’t want to lose him in any way. To show her seriousness, Caterina even got married secretly to him. She turned out too honest to treat the whole affair as a fling of amorous adventure.

However, even this secret marriage became known, first, to Florence, informed by the quick-eared secret agents. Soon, the sensational news turned into another public secret. Not only Il Moro but also the Pope Innocent VIII got stunned to death. They had never heard of any duchess who had married a mere page—too lowly a person for a lady of high birth.

Traditionally, Forlì belonged to the possession of the Pope. Besides, the real sovereign was her son, Ottaviano, heir to the dukedom—not definitely Caterina, who acted like only a regent. Once she got married to Giancomo, therefore, she would lose her regency. Yet she remained in Forlì as regent. Naturally, if he so desired, the Pope could take over the dukedom.

As if she were trapped in blind love, she had not listened to any advice. When the Pope enquired on her secret marriage, Caterina even refused to admit it. She could do anything to keep Giancomo. When somebody told her about the lowly birth of Giancomo, Caterina even asked the French King, Charles VIII, to grant him the title of a baron. And the King did.

He grew possessive and jealous, so much so that he had to sit beside her even when Caterina received a dignitary from other states. When General Cambria from the Kingdom of Naples visited ForlÌ, Giancomo accompanied her and her guest wherever they went along. The Tigress of Forlì, together with an ex-page of Girolamo, now turned into a laughingstock throughout all Italy.

Ottaviano now turned sixteen—almost the same age as that of Caterina’s lover. In fact, he reached the age, at which he should be able to take over the administration from the hands of his mother.

One day, when all the courtiers gathered around Caterina at the court, Giancomo made fun of Ottaviano. Well-aware of the irritating fact that his mother let her lover have his way, Ottaviano had been detesting Giancomo all these days. So he burst into a volley of humiliating words. Equally enraged, Giancomo slapped his face. Now, everybody turned to Caterina, whose cheeks twitched as her eyes filled with tears. However, she didn’t utter a word while her lips shivered with suppressed anger, torn between the obsessive affection to Giancomo and the maternal love toward her own son.

It was a matter of time. Something awful must have been smoldering for some time. Now, the courtiers’ sympathy with Ottaviano turned into a hatred against Giancomo.

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