Portrait of Bianca Maria Visconti,
Duchess of Milan

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BIANCA MARIA VISCONTI – Duchess of Milan
(Settimo Pavese, 1425 – Melegnano 1468).

Natural daughter of Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, and Agnese del Maino, at her father’s request she was legitimized by Emperor Sigismund, but only as heir to his personal assets. In the castle of Abbiategrasso, where she lived with her mother, she was educated in classical studies and started to dedicate herself to works of piety. Despite her father’s fluctuating opinion, in 1441, in the church of S. Sigismondo outside Cremona, she married Francesco Sforza. He was always at his side, cultivating relationships and establishing links at an international level and with large sections of the political society of the duchy, encouraging contact between the new dynasty and the ancient aristocracy. He took care of the education of his children, including Sforza’s natural children who were welcomed at court with generosity and sagacious prudence. Upon Francesco’s death in 1466, with political skill and quick decision-making he ensured the succession to the paternal throne for his son Galeazzo Maria, who was traveling in France. She died in Melegnano after a very short illness while on her way to Cremona. Ambrosina del Maino belonged to the family of her mother, Agnese del Maino, who, at the end of the century. XIV, she had married Pietro Gallarati’s grandfather, of whom Bianca Maria was therefore a cousin. Bianca Maria was always linked to him and her father Aloisio by deep affection and singular benevolence.