On August 27, 1495, the large shimmering sun slowly sank into the horizon when Giancomo, Caterina and her entourage rode back into Forlì after a hunting excursion in the vicinity of the town. Under the blissful blue sky, they had made a big hunt and now the party, including guards and her ladies-in-waiting, sang in the jolly mood and almost reached the main gate at the city wall.

Unaware of the waiting assassins, Caterina in the couch passed the gate, followed by her riding son, Ottaviano. Soon afterward, Giancomo on his horseback reached the gate. Suddenly, Antonio Getty dashed out of his hiding place and sprang before the horse, which neighed in surprise, standing on its hind legs. When Giancomo tried to pull his reign, Antonio, with a determined force, thrust his dagger deep into the abdomen of the rider. As Giancomo leaned over its neck, Domenico Getty, antonio’s brother, quickly took the reign and jumped on the horseback right behind the fatally wounded rider.

Kicking the flank of the horse with his spurs, Domenico drove it into a gallop and dashed toward the nearby church of San Bernardo, where their accomplices—two priests and several conspirators—had been waiting for their target of hatred. Without losing any moment, they unsheathed their swords and drove them into the already blood-soaked lover of Caterina. Like a gang of blood-thirsty devils, all of them repeatedly sank their swords into the bleeding man in a frenzy. A death cry lasted only for a few seconds as the gang thrust their swords countless times.

Soon the human shape turned into an indiscernible mass of blood and flesh. They threw it into the dried-up well in the compound. The life of Giancomo dropped into the bottom of the dried hole at the age of twenty-four.

The Getty brothers used to be loyal courtiers of Girolamo, Caterina’s late husband. At the revolt of the Orsi, both brothers helped Caterina by all means to fend off the enemies. Since then, the Getty Brothers had served the heir to the dukedom, Ottaviano. Both men saw the doomed future of the duchy as long as Giancomo manipulated Caterina. Besides, in their eyes, Giancomo was nothing but a lowly page—way below the pecking order—who served their master. Why should they treat Giancomo as their master? Besides, they could not bear the thought that this man of humble birth had grabbed the heart of their admired duchess.

Like most courtiers and servants, both brothers detested Giancomo to the bone. Their hatred became so intense that it would have exploded at any moment.

Caterina’s reaction was swift, and her revenge did not know borders. Nearly fifty persons—including their innocent children and wives—had to leave their life, until her blood-thirst was finally satisfied after three days. Caterina even destroyed the once beautiful houses and gardens of the condemned. Her investigators let her know that her two oldest sons, sixteen-year-old Ottaviano and fifteen-year-old Cesare, were involved in the assassination of their stepfather. Without twitching the lashes, Caterina instructed the guards to throw both sons into the dungeon (though released later).

Soon, one of the guards found the miserable corpse of the once handsome youth. An eye-witness named Cobelli described the corpse: “I never saw such wounds in so beautiful a face. It looked like a cracked-up pomegranate. This body with the gaping wounds and many holes in the thighs . . . ”

The naked corpse of the hapless Antonio Getty, arrested and executed, had been hanging from the balcony of the cathedral for three months. At the funeral of Giancomo, in the deep grief, Caterina disclosed, for the first time in public, that Giancomo and she had been man and wife—formally married.

In 1496, the plague hit northern Italy—especially Florence and its vicinity as so often had done in this century, and in turn affected the crop, which turned out miserable in this year. Everywhere prevailed lack of grain. However, thanks to the fertile plains along the Po River, Forlì managed to maintain a good, if not abundant, harvest. Giovanni de’Medici, a descendant from a collateral line of the famous Medici family, received the order from Florence to buy wheat for its father city. So in August, the newly appointed twenty-nine-year-old ambassador set out to Romagna to negotiate with the lady of Forlì.

Caterina had been lonely in her bedchamber after the murder of Giancomo. Therefore, it didn’t take too long for her to fall in love with this good-looking, charming and intelligent man four years her junior. The relationship between the two soon developed into such a full-fledged affair that she reached a decision, as before, that she couldn’t carry it in the shade any longer like a couple of fugitives. Therefore, in September 1497, she married her new lover in all secrecy.

On April 6, 1498, she gave birth to her last and most famous child, who was first called Lodovico. But Caterina and new husband did hardly spend a happy life together. Soon, Forlì and Imola got involved in a war against Venice. Her sons, who had been released from the dungeon, and their stepfather participated in the fighting actively. However, Giovanni de’Medici got sick so gravely that he had to take a rest in the health spa of San Pietro in Bagno. But his health didn’t improve at all. Sensing the imminence of his death, his physician called Caterina to his dying bed.

When she arrived, Caterina found her husband still alive, but one hour later he died in her arms on September 14, 1498. In the deepest pain and grief, Caterina returned to Forlì. Their surviving son Lodovico received the new name Giovanni after his father. Giovanni would grow into the last gallant condottiere of the Renaissance whom all the Italians admired as their idol.

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