Countess of Forli. Born to Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan and his mistress, Lucrezia Landriani. She was raised by her paternal Grandmother, Bianca Maria Visconti, until she was adopted by her father's second wife, Bona of Savoy. In 1473 she was married to Girolamo Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, however the marriage was not officially consummated until 1477, when Caterina came of age and moved to Rome. Sixtus, looking to expand Papal control, gave Girolamo the lordship of Imola, and then Forli. After the death of Sixtus IV in 1484, while Rome was rioting and looting, she rode into the city, seven months pregnant, and took the Castel Sant'Angelo. With the support of her soldiers, and several well placed cannons she held the Vatican hostage, ensuring they would choose a favorable successor to Sixtus. After negotiating a deal with the college of cardinals, Caterina and Girolamo left for Forli. In 1488 Girolamo was assassinated by members of the Orsi family, and Caterina became regent for her son Ottaviano. She exacted horrible punishments for all of the conspirators. Two months later Caterina secretly married Giacomo Feo, a stable boy in the employ of her husband. Soon, Giacomo was knighted and made the castellan of the fortress of Ravaldino. Power quickly overwhelmed her young husband and he soon earned the hatred of both her family and the citizens of Forli. In 1495 Giacomo was assassinated by a group of conspirators. Caterina's revenge on her people was furious. Not content with punishment and executions of the guilty, she tortured and ravaged anyone even closely associated with the conspirators, making the revenge she took on her first husband's death seem mild in comparison. True love found Caterina in the form of Giovanni de' Medici il Popolano, an exiled member of the Medici family. The two were wed in 1497. In 1498 she bore him her eighth and final child. Later that year Giovanni took ill and died, leaving Caterina a widow for the third time. In March 1499 the French began in invasion of Italy to reclaim Naples in the name of Louis XII, under an alliance with Pope Alexander VI. Imola and Forli were in the way. The Pope's son, Cesare Borgia led an army to the steps of the fortress at Ravaldino, where, on Dec 19, the siege began. Caterina held off the French army until she was forced to surrender on January 12, 1500. She was taken prisoner by Cesare, and during the trip to Rome was repeatedly raped and humiliated by the Borgia. She was initially held in Belvedere Palace, then transferred to the less hospitable Castel Sant'Angelo, where she would spend the next eighteen months. She was finally released in June of 1501 at the behest of French officer Yves d'Allègre, who claimed she was a friend of the French. Caterina finally made her way to Florence and was reunited with her family. She spent the last years of her life living quietly among the people. She died from the effects of a recurrent bout of malarial fever. Her body was placed in a small tomb in the chapel of the Murate, a convent of nuns whom Caterina had befriended during her time in Florence. During the 1830's the nuns were forced to leave the property, and in 1845 it was redesigned as a prison. Sometime during this transition Caterina's body was lost.