Free The Tigress of Forli by Elizabeth Lev Page B

visionary patron, the pope. The bustling Via Mercatoria, which stretched from the banking section of town by the river through the Campo dei Fiori market to the Piazza Venezia, flourished with commercial activity. The pope had widened the road and cleared it of overhanging balconies, transforming it into a well-lit, clean path where Roman shops could display their wares to advantage.
    Sixtus's restoration of the road did not spring purely from aesthetic taste or a desire to help local merchants. He had acted in response to friendly advice from King Ferdinand of Naples, who had commented that Sixtus would "never be the Lord of Rome as long as women dropping stones from overhead can crush your best soldiers or make them turn tail and run." 2 Falling rocks were not the only hazard related to these architectural protuberances. A passerby had to be alert to the possibility that almost anything might be tossed out of Roman windows—from dead cats to the contents of chamber pots.
    Although Caterina was used to seeing her father armed and wearing a cuirass when he traveled, she would have been taken aback by the sight of several small armies marching about in the city streets, each in the pay of a noble family. Caterina and her husband were always escorted by armed guards who resembled thugs and were nothing like the elegant Swiss Guard of the modern papacy. Carrying swords and daggers, and quick to draw them, they shoved a path clear for the noble couple as they passed through town. All the important families in Rome employed them, mostly out of necessity. For example, the death of a pope, whether sudden or expected, would unleash anarchy: mobs attacked the houses of the wealthy, and crime infested the streets. Hence, during this period, referred to as
sede vacante
—"the vacant throne"—private armies were essential protection for home and property. Order would be restored with the election of a new pontiff, after a few final throes of violence. As soon as the name of the new successor to Saint Peter was announced from the Vatican loggia, Romans would rush to the man's family palace and loot it. Once crowned, the new pope would make a foray into the city, taking the processional route from the Basilica of Saint Peter to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran and back again. To the rest of the world this symbolized the pope's possession of his cathedral and his regal rule of Rome, but for the inhabitants of the Eternal City it was a ritual gauntlet to be braved by the newly elected pontiff. He rode on the Via Papalis, which twisted and turned through the heart of the city, passing by anti-papal strongholds and the homes of families that had ruled Rome for centuries despite the presence of the papacy. The road skirted the foot of the Capitoline Hill, the great Roman stronghold of the republican age, where certain of Rome's citizens expressed their hostility to papal rule. During Sixtus IV's possession ceremony, stones were thrown at his carriage as he traveled past its slopes. 3
    Caterina certainly recognized that the presence of so many private armies meant that her new family did not control its city as firmly as her father had ruled Milan. Yet rather than stay locked indoors, she spent most of her time outside her home, getting to know the members of her new family: the Riarios, the Basso della Roveres, and particularly her husband's cousin, Giuliano della Rovere, the striking cardinal of the Church of Saint Peter in Vincoli.
    An endless round of parties began in the afternoon and lasted well into the night. These four-course feasts often boasted forty different dishes. Like a theatrical production, each course was heralded by a master of ceremonies, who changed his clothes and jewels to match the theme of the course. These Renaissance galas entertained the noblest families, greatest thinkers, richest bankers, and loveliest women. Caterina, the crown princess of this luxurious realm, played her part to the full. Roman