The Italian Renaissance produced many influential and interesting characters, but probably none more fascinating than Countess Caterina Riario Sforza De’Medici.  The illegitimate child of the then Duke of Milan, Countess Caterina was raised in great privilege, side by side with her father’s legitimate children.  “She was this contemporary person.  She fought battles and even owned her own breast plate,” said author Elizabeth Lev, in a recent interview.  “She was well educated and had excellent taste, but she was also an actor – when things weren’t happening fast enough she got up and got things done.  She had a tremendous physical education.  She learned to ride and hunt with her brothers.”   Married off at ten years old, Countess Caterina would mother six children, wed three husbands and become the Countess of Forli and Imola.

Even in the fifteenth century, Milan was known for its high fashion, in which Countess Caterina greatly indulged.  “She wore clothes that turned everybody’s heads.  She wore brilliant colors, she had jewels set into her clothes, she knew how to dress to impress.   Despite all her motherhood concerns and all of her political concerns, she was always very, very interested in her appearance.  Style and the impression you can make with how you look was very important to her,” said Lev. 

A natural born, non-conformist, Countess Caterina was every bit the fashion rebel, risk taker and rule breaker.  “Throughout Italy, at various points, there were sumptuary laws which dictated how long your train could be, how many rings you could wear on your hand, what materials you could use.  In Florence and Rome, for modesty’s sake, women were to wear a transparent kerchief to cover their shoulders and the tops of their breasts.  Caterina never did any of that.  When she was younger she wore very low cut gowns,” said Lev.  “At seven months pregnant, Countess Caterina took the Fort of Rome and held it hostage until she got what she wanted.  When she had given up the castle, she walked out in a simple brown traveling dress, brown was the color of mourning, with a sword and a money belt around her waist, which was unheard of because that’s [the sword and money belt] what a man would wear; only men did that.”                   

Despite her love for fashion and style, Countess Caterina was quick to remind her detractors that there was more to her than met the eye.  “Whenever anyone began to question or talk down to her, her response would always be, ‘You talk to me like this because you look at me and you think that I’m a woman, but you forget that I can think like a man,’ and that’s what made her such an exciting figure for the fifteen hundreds.” 

Author Elizabeth Lev will be at St. Regis Parish on Wednesday, January 11^th at 7pm to discuss her book, The Tigress of Forli.  St. Regis Parish is located at 3695 Lincoln Rd. Bloomfield Township, MI.   

~Jessica R. Simmons