Visit our shop Gaspare De Riso If you are like me and have been doing research for many years, you may be able to translate some simple Italian Records from the Antenati.  During the course of my research a came across the last will of my 6th great uncle Gaspare De Riso.  This is a forty page document, that I could not read. So I called on my friend Elena Gissi, of E.G. Ancestry for help. I learned of Elena through someone that I met on the internet that was researching her family in the north of Italy.  And we did a great interview on the “Lady In Black.”  Elena also did the research for an episode of “Finding Your Roots” with Louis Gates Jr., for the actor Christopher Meloni. Elena produced an excellent report on the details of the will and this great interview.  If you need any Italian Records to be translated, I suggest to contact Elena at egancestryresearch@gmail.com and mention IG2021. Last Will Gaspare De Riso Podcast Video Click here to join our group on Facebook  

The traceable beginning of the Borgia family ( Borja in Spain )goes back to Rodrigo de Borja who was born in Borja, Zaragoza Spain around 1349.  A branch of the family would later move to Italy and two of them become Popes.  As I was tracing back one of my Carafa lines, I found that one of my Carafa great grandfathers was the son of Juana de Borgia, the sister of Rodrigo Borgia, who later became Pope Alexander VI.  The first Borgia pope was Rodrigo’s uncle Alfonso de Borgia or Pope Callixtus III. A rumor was started by Pope Alexander’s rivals that the family descended from Jewish roots, in an effort to discredit him and remove him as Pope, however their is no proof that this is true.  The Borgia family was pretty notorious for some pretty evil deeds and we have attached a few articles that highlight them. Lucrezia Borgia was pretty well known for being promiscuous  and had an affair with another one of my great grandfathers, Francesco Gonzaga the Duke of Mantua.  The Borgia family was recently chronicled in two TV series and while not 100% accurate, both were very entertaining Click here to join Italian Genealogy Group on Facebook To read more fascinating stories about the Italian Nobles check out my book available by clicking the photo or on Amazon. Borgia Family Four Borgias became especially noteworthy in a historical sense. Alfonso de Borgia (1378–1458) established the family’s influence in Italy and became Pope Calixtus IIIin 1455 (seeCalixtus III). Rodrigo Borgia became a cardinal of the Roman Catholic church and, later (1492), Pope Alexander VI(seeAlexander VI underAlexander [Papacy]). As cardinal and pope, Rodrigo fathered a number of children by his mistress Vannozza Catanei. Cesare Borgia (q.v.; c.1475/76–1507), son of Rodrigo, achieved political power while ruthlessly attempting to establish a secular kingdom in central Italy. Lucrezia Borgia (q.v.;1480–1519), a daughter of Rodrigo and a patron of the arts, became famous for her skill at political intrigue. The family produced many other persons of lesser importance. One, St. Francis Borgia (1510–1572), a great-grandson of Rodrigo, was canonized. The family began to decline in the late 1500s. By the middle of the 18th century it had disappeared. Primary Contributors The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors Parul Jain Marco Sampaolo Alexander VI From Britannica Written By: Francis Xavier Murphy Last Updated: Jun 19, 2019  Alexander VI, original Spanish name in full Rodrigo de Borja y Doms, Italian Rodrigo Borgia, (born 1431, Játiva, near Valencia[Spain]—died August18, 1503, Rome), corrupt, worldly, and ambitious pope(1492–1503), whose neglect of the spiritual inheritance of the church contributed to the development of the Protestant Reformation. Rodrigo was born into the Spanish branch of the prominent and powerful Borgia family. His uncle Alonso de Borgia, bishopof Valencia (later cardinal), supervised his education and endowed him with ecclesiastical benefices while still in his teens. Rodrigo studied law at Bologna, and on February 22, 1456, he was created a cardinal by his uncle, now Pope Calixtus III. As vice chancellor of the Roman Catholic Church, Rodrigo amassed enormous wealth and, despite a severe rebuke from Pope Pius II, lived as a Renaissance prince. He patronized the arts and fathered a number of children for whom he provided livings, mainly in Spain. By a Roman noblewoman, Vannozza Catanei, he had four subsequently legitimized offspring—Juan, Cesare, Jofré, and Lucrezia—whose complicated careers troubled his pontificate. Despite the shadow of simonythat surrounded the disposal of his benefices among the papal electors, Rodrigo emerged from a tumultuousconclave on the night of August 10–11, 1492, as Pope Alexander VI and received the acclaim of the Roman populace. He embarked upon a reform of papal finances and a vigorous pursuit of the war against the OttomanTurks. His position was menaced by the French king Charles VIII, who invaded Italyin 1494 to vindicatehis claim to the Kingdom of Naples. Charles, at the instigation of a rival cardinal of the influential della Roverefamily, threatened the pope with depositionand the convocationof a reform council. Politically isolated, Alexander sought assistance from the Turkish sovereign, Bayezid II. In the course of the pope’s meeting with King Charles in Rome in early 1495, however, he received the traditional obeisance from the French monarch. He still refused to support the king’s claim to Naples and, by an alliance with Milan, Venice, and the Holy Roman emperor, eventually forced the French to withdraw from Italy. In September 1493 Alexander created his teenaged son Cesarea cardinal, along with Alessandro Farnese (the brother of the papal favourite Giulia la Bella and the future pope Paul III). In the course of his pontificate Alexander appointed 47 cardinals to further his complicated dynastic, ecclesiastical, and political policies. His son Juan was made duke of Gandía (Spain) and was married to Maria Enriquez, the cousin of King Ferdinand IV of Castile; Jofré was married to Sancia, the granddaughter of the king of Naples; and Lucreziawas given first to Giovanni Sforza of Milan, and, when that marriage was annulled by papal decree on the grounds of impotence, she was married to Alfonso of Aragon. Upon his assassination Lucrezia received as a third husband Alfonso I d’Este, duke of Ferrara. Tragedy struck the papal household on June 14, 1497, when Alexander’s favourite son, Juan, was murdered. Gravely afflicted, Alexander announced a reform program and called for measures to restrain the luxury of the papal court, reorganize the Apostolic Chancery, and repress simony and concubinage. Alexander had shown great forbearance in dealing with the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, who usurped political control in Florence in 1494, condemned the evils of the papal court, and called for the pope’s deposition, and, even before the friar’s downfall in May 1498, theologians and men of affairs had expressed support for the papacy. Meanwhile, however, Alexander had returned to a policy of political intrigue. Cesare resigned the cardinalate in 1498 and married Charlotte d’Albret in order to cement the Borgia alliance with the French king Louis XII, whose request for a marriage annulment was granted by the pope. By a ruthless policy of siege and assassination, Cesare brought the north of Italy under his control; he conquered the duchies of Romagna, Umbria, and Emilia and earned the admiration of Niccolò Machiavelli, who used Cesare as the model for his classic on politics, The Prince. In Rome, Alexander destroyed the power of the Orsiniand Colonna families and concluded an alliance with Spain, granting Isabella and Ferdinand the title of Catholic Monarchs. In 1493, in the wake of Christopher Columbus’s epochal discoveries, and at the request of Ferdinand and Isabella, Alexander issued a bull granting Spain the exclusive right to explore the seas and claim all New World lands lying west of a north-south line 100 leagues (about 320 miles) west of the Cape Verde Islands. Portugal was granted similar rights of exploration east of the demarcation line. This papal disposition, which was never subsequently recognized by any other European power, was jointly amendedby Spain and Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. As a patron of the arts, Alexander erected a centre for the University of Rome, restored the Castel Sant’Angelo, built the monumental mansion of the Apostolic Chancery, embellished the Vatican palaces, and persuaded Michelangelo to draw plans for the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica. He proclaimed the year 1500 a Holy Year of Jubilee and authorized its celebration with great pomp. He also promoted the evangelization of the New World. Attempts to whitewash Alexander’s private conduct have proved abortive. While his religious convictionscannot be challenged, scandal accompanied his activities throughout his career. Even from a Renaissance viewpoint, his relentless pursuit of political goals and unremitting efforts to aggrandizehis family were seen as excessive. Neither as corrupt as depicted by Machiavelli and by gossip nor as useful to the church’s expansion as apologists would make him, Alexander VI holds a high placeon the list of the so-called bad popes. Lucrezia Borgia (born April 18, 1480, Rome—died June 24, 1519, Ferrara, Papal States), Italian noblewoman and a central figure of the infamous Borgia familyof the Italian Renaissance. Daughter of the Spanish cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI, and his Roman mistress Vannozza Catanei, and sister of Cesare, Lucrezia is often accused of sharing in their many crimes and excesses. In historical perspective, however, she seems to have been more an instrument for the ambitious projects of her brother and father than an active participant in their crimes. Her three successive marriages into prominent families helped augment the political and territorial power of the Borgias. In 1491 the young Lucrezia was successively betrothed to two Spanish nobles. But after her father became pope in 1492, he sought an alliance with the Sforza family of  Milan a gainst the Aragonese dynasty of Naples. Accordingly, Lucrezia was in 1493 married to Giovanni Sforza, lord of Pesaro. When Alexander allied himself with Naples, and Milan with the French, Giovanni, fearing for his life, fled from Rome and became an enemy of the Borgias, later charging incestuous relations between Lucrezia and Alexander. Alexander annulled the marriage in 1497 on the dubious grounds of nonconsummation. Seeking to strengthen his ties with Naples, the Pope in 1498 arranged a marriage between Lucrezia and the 17-year-old Alfonso, duke of Bisceglie, an illegitimate son of Alfonso II of Naples. Upon Cesare’s alliance with the French king Louis XII(1499) and his subsequent campaign in the Romagna, which threatened Naples, Alfonso fled Rome in August but returned with Lucrezia in October. In July 1500 he was wounded by four would-be assassins on the steps of St. Peter’s. While recovering, he was strangled by one of Cesare’s servants. The murder provoked the desired rupture with Naples. Lucrezia retired to Nepi, and during this period the mysterious Infans Romanus (Roman Infant) was first seen, the three-year-old boy named Giovanni, with whom Lucrezia appeared in 1501. Two papal bulls recognized the child as the illegitimate son first of Cesare, then of Alexander, who was probably the true father. The mysterious origin of the child as well as Lucrezia’s presence at a celebrated night orgy at the Vatican have been used to support the rumours of incest in the Borgia family. Alfonso d’Este, son of Ercole I, duke of Ferrara, married Lucrezia on December 30, 1501, although he shunned the union for a time because of the Borgias’ unsavoury reputation. This marriage was arranged by Cesare to consolidate his position in the Romagna. When Alexander VI died in 1503, Lucrezia ceased to play a political role and led a more normal life at the brilliant court of Ferrara, which became a centre for the arts and letters of the Italian Renaissance. She turned to religion in her last years and died at the age of 39.   Lucrezia  

I am able to trace back to my 17th great grandfather, Pedro Sanchez de Luna.  Original rider of Saragozza belonging to the class of the “ricohombres”, Alcaide di Tierga in 1357.  Not your typical Italian family name I know, but when Spain ruled much of southern Italy and Sicily, this family, from the Aragona’s married into many of the noble Italian families, such as Piscicelli, Carafa, Caracciolo and many other’s.  Teresa Sanchez de Luna married Prince Ambrogio II  Caracciolo di Torchiarolo and are my 4th great grandparents. Link to Nobili Napoletani — Sances de Luna Link to Libro di Oro — Sanchez de Luna The family Sanchez (italianizzata in Sances) was one of the most powerful and richest in the reign of Aragona so much to possess a really little but hardened army; numbered between the Big ones of Spain, perhaps also with real descent. Thanks to their military and financial support, the ispanici managed to throw the Moors out of the peninsula. The progenitor of the Neapolitan branch was Don Alonso Sanches, royal General Treasurer (Office comparable with the Great Camerlingo) of the Reign of Naples, ambassador I press the Serene Highness one of Venice, marry descendant of Don Pedro Sanchez of Donna Francesca de Moon. Since then the signs of the Sances were coupled to those de Moon. In 1382 Don Giovanni Sanchez was appointed a Great Admiral. Don Giovanni Luigi, in order that there had served faithfully in war king Ferdinando (I dictate Shoeing) That of Naples, in 1467 had the feuds of Vico Equense and Mass Lubrense. Don Luigi, cousin of the progenitor Don Alonso Sanchez de Moon, was hurt in the war against the French ones and, for the brave behaviour, there was named by king Ferdinando the Catholic Treasurer Ganerale del Regno of Naples.The Family was admitted to the Neapolitan Patriciate of the Chair of Mountain and, after the abolition of the Seats (1800, it was enrolled in the Book from Neapolitan Gold. In the prosperous lands of Puglia, the French ones were acting cruelly imposing the customs of the sheep, to satisfy the alimentary needs with their army. The Spaniards with the best riders of the Reign of Naples hindered such an abuse of power; thank you also to the boldness of FRANCESCO SANCES, Rider of the Suit of S. Giacomo. He, with a bundle of able combatants, gave a humiliating defeat to the French ones camped in the city of Cerignola, managing to bring to Barletta further cinquemila heads of cattle. The French captains, when badly they were supporting the hard given war lesson, started offending the Italians. The challenge followed from Barletta between 13 French ones and 13 Italians of the Catholic army; Francesco Sances, together with the companions of weapon I Indicate (Sicilian) de Mendoza, Ettore Fieramosca (noble of Capua), Ludovico Abenevole (noble of Aversa), Mariano Abigniente (Sarno), Mark Corollario (Naples), Ettore de Pazzis (Foggia), he participated in the combat and was the first rider to obtain the victory against the own adversary. It returned the soul to God in 1504 and was buried in the church of Santa Mary la Nova to Naples. Click here to Join Italian Roots and Genealogy on Facebook Learn more about the Italian Nobility in my book “Farmers and Nobles” Alfonso II my 12th Great Grandfather Died (4-3-1564 buried in the church of the Announced  Naples, diplomat to the service of Joanna d’ Aragona Widowed queen of Naples,  8-11-1513; after 1518 it entered to service of the Emperor Carlo V: it representative in Savoy, then to Venice 1521/1528, General Treasurer of the Reign of Naples 1525 (with faculty of passing the office on to the heirs)Privilege of 19-8-1524, on the entrances of Barletta and the Handful land,  Land of Work and of the Earldom of the Moliso 6-5-1532, and He bought the Grottole feud; ambassador of the Cardinal Pompeo Column close to the Emperor Carlo V in 1531, Advisor of the Sacred Royal Council 1555. = (dowry of 100.000 shields) Brianna, only daughter of Simone Ruiz, General Treasurer of the Reign of Naples, and of White one of Cardona (1542). Alonso III my 11th Great Grandfather Died (16-11-1607), Barone di Grottole of 1564, 1st Marquis of Grottole 16-3-1574, broad money to Neapolitan patriciate (with the whole family) for the Chair of Mountain 30-3-1570; General Treasurer of Reign of Naples 1546 for renunciation of the father (confirmed in 1555, office given way to the Caracciolo in 1564 with Royal Assent for the sum of 30.000 ), Advisor with 19-12-1566 and later on Dean of the Sacred one Royal Council of the Reign of Naples, member of the Court of the Elected ones 1569. = Caterina, daughter of Giovanni Martinez de Moon Gentleman of Porroy, Rider of the Order of San Jago, Commendatory of Montalban and Lord of a castle of Milan, and of Isabella de Cardona – it purchases the land of Holy Arpino for 13.500 Giovanni Giacomo Carafa’s dukedoms in 1569. Giovanni my 10th Great Grandfather Died (9-1612), Baron of Holy Arpino 1607 and Patrizio Napoletano; Doctor in laws, Judge of the Great court Vicaria, Advisor of the Council of Santa Chiara in 1591, President of the Royal Sacred one Council of the Reign of Naples, Royal Advisor of the King of Spain in 1612. The descendants led also the surname Sanchez de Luna d’ Aragona. = 11-11-1581 Girolama, daughter of Giovanni Luigi Piscicelli, Patrizio Napoletano, and of Lucrezia di Tocco

Ariana Franco discusses starting her research in 2020 and turning her passion into a genealogy business. I began researching my family history in late 2020 as a way to investigate where I came from, who I came from, and to connect with family. The more I found the more inspired I have been to tell the stories. My personal family stories have transported me through 20th century New England back to 19th century Italy. My genealogical research balances the scale of imagination and information found in documents. As an artist, I have always been fascinated by people’s interactions and experiences in spaces. Themes of my personal art returns to artifacts that represent personality thus identifying a relationship between object and person. Those who have passed into the spirit world have become ethereal; symbolized as moths inside kaleidoscopes. You can find Ariana here www.arianafranco.com Podcast Click here to join our group on Facebook Video

Must See Places The History of Marche Italy is very interesting.  The most known cities being Urbino and Pesaro. I have ancestors from almost every province in Italy.  Marche is especially interesting  to me, due to the Guelphs, Montefeltro, Charlemagne and Dukes of Urbino, that all factor into my ancestry.  Scroll to the bottom to see the connections. Italy Magazine Get your copy of my new book click the photo to buy direct of buy on Amazon Few countries in the world are suffused with such a strong sense of historical continuity as Italy. From the myths that surround the birth of the Etruscan civilization to the foundation of United Italy in the 19thC, past and present are inextricably linked in a seamless web that stretches back over three millennia. This short account provides a thread to guide you through the labyrinth of this complex story. You’ll find more detailed local history in the individual town pages. Before the Romans Our knowledge of the early peoples of the Marche is hazy and often draws from the unreliable writings of later Roman historians. The most important of the tribes who first inhabited the region in any numbers were the Piceni, who lived on the eastern seaboard of the Marche. Up in the mountains their place was taken by the Umbri tribes who also dwelt in the neighbouring region now know as Umbria. Both tribes have left us few relics of their passage. Only with the Etruscans do we find early inhabitants who left their mark on Italian history but their influence in the Marche was marginal. Ancient Rome With the expulsion in 509 BC of Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the Etruscan monarchs, the new Republic of Rome gradually began to make its presence felt. Already weakened by attacks from the Greek colonists in southern Italy and by Celtic inroads from the north, the Etruscans soon came under the sway of Rome. The beginning of the end was marked by the Roman conquest of the Etruscan city of Veio in 396 BC. With the construction of the great highways such as the Via Flaminia, Roman dominion across Italy was consolidated. Under the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, the Marche was divided – the northern stretches formed part of the Roman Umbria, while the south was known as Picenum. Arrival of the Barbarians In AD 476, Rome, already weakened by the split between the Western and Eastern Empires and the first forays by Goths and Vandals from the north, finally fell to the barbarian warrior Odoacer. His reign as the first King of Italy was short-lived, however, with the arrival in 489 of Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, who established a 33-year rule of relative tranquility in Italy. On his death, the Eastern Emperor Justinian in Constantinople tried to revive imperial power in Italy through his celebrated generals Belisarius and Narses. Although they finally managed to topple the Gothic King Totila in 552  the deciding battle took place at the Furlo Gorge in the Marche, central Italy was in no fit state to resist yet another invasion from the north, this time from the Lombards in 568. For 200 years these warriors from the Danube valley held loose control over much of central Italy, ruling from Lucca and Spoleto. Only in the northern Marche and part of Umbria did the Byzantine powers manage to keep a toehold under the protection of the Exarchate of Ravenna. The Holy Roman Empire Although converted to Christianity by Pope Gregory the Great, the Lombards were regarded as unwelcome guests by later popes. It was Pope Stephen II who first hit on the idea of calling in foreign help to oust the Lombards and in 754 Pepin the Short entered Italy at the head of his Frankish army. The expulsion of the Lombards proved difficult and it was only under Pepin’s son, the great Charlemagne, that the work was completed. As a reward to his Frankish champion, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as the first Holy Roman Emperor. Although at the time it was little more than an honorary title, the Holy Roman Empire thus founded was to last on and off for a thousand years and to become the focus of continual strife between the rival claims of successive popes and emperors. Although Charlemagne’s empire flourished, it depended too heavily on his guiding hand; on his death in 814, things rapidly fell apart. Italy was again plunged into anarchy with imperial officials setting themselves up as local despots. Increased security only returned with the revival of the power of the Holy Roman Empire under the Saxon King, Otto I. Trade and industry began to flourish and, while Emperor and Pope argued over who should rule, many of the cities of central Italy, the Marche included, had their first taste of independence. Although they paid lip service to one side or the other, in truth they found themselves able to decide their own future. Bereft of effective central government, these early city states bred fierce local patriotism and ceaseless rivalry with their neighbours. Guelphs & Ghibellines The rivalry between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire came to a head under the rule of the brilliant medieval German Hohenstaufen Emperor, Frederick II, the man who earned the title Stupor Mundi for his dazzling talents. If you visit Jesi, you’ll be able to see the place where he was born in a tent. Although he almost succeeded in creating a united Italy under his banner, his death in 1250 marked the eclipse of German imperial power in the peninsular. The Marche, like the rest of central Italy, was deeply bound up in this conflict, with loyalties tied either to the Guelph or Ghibelline parties. The supporters of the papacy took their name from Frederick’s rival for the empire, the Welf Otto, while the imperialists became known as Ghibellines from the Italianized Hohenstaufen battle-cry “Hie Weibling”. Behind the simple struggle between the two powers lay a deeper political battle between the new middle class of merchants and artisans, who allied themselves with the Guelphs, and the old feudal aristocracy who saw that the tide of democracy could best be held in check by the Emperor’s Ghibelline faction. Into this fundamental struggle all the warring factions of central Italy poured their energies. The Guelph cause can be said to have triumphed with the arrival of the French under Charles of Anjou in the middle of the 13th century at the invitation of Pope Urban IV; from now on France rather than Germany was to be the dominant foreign power in Italy. The Guelph and Ghibelline labels, however, lingered on for centuries. Long after they had lost their original significance, they remained as a cover for just about any difference of opinion, even as an excuse to settle old scores. Despots and Republics The absence of the papacy in Avignon from 1305-77, the subsequent Great Schism which saw up to three candidates claiming the Throne of St Peter, and the arrival of the Black Death in 1348, all provided fertile soil for the flowering of local despotism across the Marche. The careers of these petty tyrants were briefly interrupted by the arrival of the ruthless Cardinal Albornoz, sent by the Avignon popes to reimpose their rule over the Papal States, and finally went into decline with the restoration of the papacy in Rome in 1421 under the determined Pope Martin V. Peace before the Storm The apogee of the Renaissance in the middle of the 15th century was marked by a period of relative stability across central Italy. This was in no small part thanks to the Italian League, a defensive treaty between the major powers in Italy that held in check both the lesser Italian states and foreign invaders. It is against this background that many centres of art and learning flourished; perhaps, none better illustrates the splendour of these lesser courts than that founded by Duke Federico of Montefeltro at Urbino. Foreign Domination and the Papal States But the days of this prototype of a united Italy were numbered. The individual interests of the leading states soon took priority over the common good, and the arrival of Charles VIII from France in 1494, at the invitation of Milan in their quarrel with Naples, marked the dissolution of the League and the opening gambit in the Wars of Italy. Although the French invasion convulsed central Italy, two years later Charles was back in France with his Italian conquests lost. But the French intervention had turned the thoughts of another great European power towards Italian conquests – Spain. As the 16th century dawned and the Italian Renaissance took root across Europe, central Italy along with the rest of the peninsular became a battleground on which the rival claims to Italian hegemony between Francis I of France and Charles V of Spain were tested. And with the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559, over a hundred and fifty years of Spanish domination of Italy began. With the Spanish holding the rest of Italy in check, the Papacy was free to consolidate its rule over its own possessions which included the Marches – while the centre of Italian culture moved to Counter- Reformation Rome, the Papal States were left to languish under the dead hand of ecclesiastical bureaucrats. Napoleon & The Risorgimento The shock waves of the French Revolution of 1789 were felt in Italy and helped to fan the first flames of libertarianism that were to culminate in 1860 with the birth of United Italy. But first it had to submit to the Napoleonic invasion of 1796. Across Italy, Bonaparte first set up client republics – with the Papal States transformed into the Roman Republic – then the more draconian Kingdom of Italy. The collapse of the regime with the fall of Napoleon was as rapid as its arrival. But, despite its brevity, Napoleonic rule awoke central Italy and the rest of the country from its long slumbers and fostered the rebirth of nationalism. Under the Piedmont King Victor Emmanuel, his wily prime minister, Cavour and the heroic if maverick general, Garibaldi, United Italy became a reality. In 1859 the Italian tricolour flew from the Fortezza of Florence and the last Grand Duke, Leopold II, abdicated. A year later large parts of Italy opted to join the new Kingdom of Piedmont. The Papacy, however, proved more intransigent to the onslaught of the Risorgimento and it was only by force that the Marche managed to break free from the Papal States in the same year. It was a full ten years later that Rome finally fell, in 1870. From here on the history of the Marche is but part of the story of modern Italy. ©Peter Greene/le-marche.com The Guardian