Lorenzo de' Medici had once said that Ludovico Sforza controlled the fate of all Italy.
Yet in the first days of 1477, Ludovico was traveling leisurely through France, broadening his horizons. During that time, he received word from Milan that his brother had been murdered and hurried back to serve as regent for his nephew.
At the time, there was an influential minister named Simone, who arranged for Ludovico to hold a sinecure in the judiciary. Ludovico had excelled in both letters and martial arts since childhood and was not one to settle for second place. In the fifth month, he launched a coup, but it failed, and he was exiled to Pisa, where he began an idle life of hunting and pleasure.
Gian was a frail and sickly child, much like Alessandro's second brother, Carnot. Their father had no expectations for him beyond growing up safely. Carnot studied in Rome and thus became acquainted with many Roman nobles. When the Holy See held a secret meeting in Venice, Carnot was there as well and "happened" to buy a banker's mansion in Venice Square. At the time, a Venetian count urgently needed liquid funds and sold it at a low price.
Marno studied in France. He removed a sculpture that had originally stood in his sitting room and gave it to a Directory official visiting his home. Later, that sculpture appeared in the Louvre Museum. He was an exceptionally generous man; even Madame Récamier often entertained him.
The Torlonia family's art collecting was practically indulgent. They even purchased the Giustiniani Collection, which had been Rome's finest for two centuries.
Cicognara and Fredley had to hunt for treasures themselves, like panning for gold and filtering out the dross. The Torlonia family simply bought up other people's entire collections.
Alessandro had two