Caterina Sforza

Life

Childhood

Caterina Sforza was born in Milan in 1463. She was one of the four illegitimate children of Galeazzo Maria Sforza and his mistress Lucrezia Landriani who was wife to Count Gian Piero Landriani. The Count was a courtier of the Milanese ducal court and a close friend to Galeazzo. In her early years, Caterina spent her time under the care of her mother's side of the family. The bond she had with her mother Lucrezia never faltered. She followed Caterina's growing years and stayed close during crucial moments of her life, even during her final years in Florence.

Following the death of Francesco, Caterina's paternal grandfather, and the succession of her father Galeazzo Maria Sforza as Duke of Milan in 1466, Caterina and her siblings were brought to court. All four of Lucrezia Landriani's children were entrusted to Bianca Maria Visconti, Caterina's paternal grandmother. After the death of his betrothed, Dorotea Gonzaga, in 1467, the Duke married on 9 May 1468 to Bona of Savoy who adopted all four children: Carlo, born in 1461 would later become Count of Magenta; Caterina; Alessandro, born in 1465 would later become Lord of Francavilla; and Chiara, born in 1467 would become Countess dal Verme di Sanguinetto through her first marriage, and Lady of Novi by her second.

Caterina and her siblings received a humanistic education while exposed to writers and artists at the Sforza court. Being part of an Italian noble family during this time meant she would receive the same education as her brothers. She benefited from learning Latin and reading classic works of the time. From her paternal grandmother, she learned to take pride in her warlike ancestors, to show boldness in the use of arms, and astuteness in the skill of government. From Bona, she received not only maternal warmth and affection, which the adoptive mother poured over all her husband's children, but also a potential first introduction to the world of botanical pharmaceuticals. Bona entered court with her personal apothecary, Cristoforo de Brugora, a line of work Caterina would explore later in life through her experiments. Her relationship with Bona would continue through correspondence after Caterina left the Milanese court.

Caterina's father, whose family resided in Milan and Pavia, was a devoted hunter and often stayed either at Galliate or Cusago. It is believed that between these two locations, her own passion for hunting was acquired.

First marriage

In 1473, Caterina became betrothed to Girolamo Riario, the son of Paolo Riario and Bianca della Rovere, sister of Pope Sixtus IV (in office: 1471–1484). Caterina replaced her cousin, the 11-year-old Costanza Fogliani, as Girolamo's bride because, according to some historians, Costanza's mother Gabriella Gonzaga (illegitimate daughter of Marquis Ludovico III of Mantua) refused to allow the consummation of the marriage until Costanza reached the legal age—then 14—while Caterina, although only ten years old at that time, agreed with the demands of the groom; other sources instead reported that the marriage of Caterina and Girolamo was celebrated on 17 January 1473, but consummated four years later (1477) when Caterina reached the age of fourteen, without giving further details about the broken betrothal with Costanza.

Pope Sixtus IV gave Girolamo the Lordship of Imola, already a Sforza city, but at the time a fief of the Riario family. Caterina was a part of the two richest courts in Italy after marrying Girolamo and being daughter to the Duke of Milan. After a triumphal entrance into Imola in 1477, Caterina went to Rome with her husband, where he lived for many years in the service of his uncle, the Pope. On 1 September 1479, Caterina gave birth to her first child, a son she named Ottaviano. More children with Girolamo would follow: Cesare on 25 August 1480, Bianca (her only daughter) at the end of October 1481, Giovanni Livio at the end of October 1484, Galeazzo on 18 December 1485, and Francesco (called Sforzino) on 17 August 1487.

In the Vatican court

At the end of the 15th century, Rome was no longer a medieval city, but not yet the important centre of artistic endeavors it would become a few decades later as one of the most important cities of the Renaissance. Upon her arrival in May 1477, Caterina found a city full of cultural fervour, with a desire for renovation.

The atmosphere was a mix of intrigue and power, which was pursued without scruples, with material interests far exceeding the spiritual. Caterina was banned by her husband from meddling in politics, but she quickly integrated—owing to her extroverted and sociable character—into aristocratic Roman society.

As evidenced by correspondence from that period, Caterina immediately became admired among noble Roman women. She was treated with great respect and praised by many, including the Pope, and she soon transformed from a simple adolescent into a powerful intermediary between the Roman court and other Italian courts, especially Milan.

Girolamo was given a leading position in the expansion policy of Pope Sixtus IV after the premature death of the Pope's favoured nephew, Cardinal Pietro Riario. His power grew daily, and he soon displayed increasing ruthlessness towards his enemies. In 1480, the Pope, with the objective of attaining a strong domain in the land of Romagna, assigned Girolamo the lordship of Forlì, which had remained vacant after it was sequestered from the Ordelaffi family. The new lord tried to earn the favour of the populace by erecting magnificent public buildings and churches, and by abolishing taxes.

The lives of Caterina and Girolamo changed abruptly with the death of Sixtus IV on 12 August 1484.

When Pope Sixtus IV died, Girolamo made many enemies in Rome. Therefore, rebellions and disorder immediately spread through Rome, including looting of his supporters' residences. Girolamo's residence, the Orsini palace in Campo de' Fiori, was stripped of its contents and almost destroyed.

In this time of anarchy, Caterina, who was in her seventh month of pregnancy, crossed the Tiber on horseback to occupy the rocca (fortress) of Castel Sant'Angelo on behalf of her husband. From this position and with the obedience of the soldiers, Caterina could monitor the Vatican and dictate the conditions for the new conclave.

Forlì

In Forlì, law and order had been maintained by Caterina's uncle Ludovico il Moro Sforza, Duke of Milan. On their arrival, the Riarios learned of the election of Giovanni Battista Cybo, an old opponent, as Pope Innocent VIII. He confirmed Girolamo in his lordships of Imola and Forlì and his appointment as captain-general. That appointment, however, was only nominal; Girolamo had no real control over the papal army and Innocent VIII refused to pay Girolamo for leaving Rome.

Despite the loss of income, Girolamo did not reinstate taxes on the people of Forlì.

This situation lasted until the end of 1485, when the city government completely ran out of money. Girolamo, pressed by a member of the Council of Elders, Nicolò Pansecco, was forced to levy taxes. The taxes were deemed excessive by the population and led to Girolamo's increased unpopularity among all citizens of Forlì.

The tax increase, which affected mainly craftsmen and landowners, added to the discontent that had previously been limited to the families who had suffered under Girolamo's persecution of those whom he suspected of treachery. His enemies began to conspire against him with a view to making Franceschetto Cybo, the illegitimate son of Pope Innocent, lord of Imola and Forlì in his stead.

After more than a half dozen failed attempts, Girolamo was killed on 14 April 1488 by a conspiracy led by the Orsis, a noble family of Forlì. The lord's palace was sacked, while Caterina and her six children were made prisoners.

The fortress of Ravaldino, a central part of the defensive system of the city, refused to surrender to the Orsis. Caterina offered to persuade the castellan, Tommaso Feo, to submit. The Orsis believed Caterina because she left her children as hostages, but once inside she let loose a barrage of vulgar threats and promises of vengeance against her former captors. According to one rumour, when they threatened to kill her children, Caterina, standing on the walls of the fortress, exposed her genitals and said: "Fatelo, se volete: impiccateli pure davanti a me ... qui ho quanto basta per farne altri!" ('Do it, if you want to: hang them even in front of me ... here I have what's needed to make others!'). This story, however, is most likely an embellishment. The historical record tells that Caterina, in fact, said she was pregnant. Although most historians consider this to have been a ruse, it removed any power the conspirators had in holding her children, Girolamo's legitimate heirs, hostage.

Capture by Cesare Borgia

In the meantime, Louis XII had succeeded to the French throne. Louis claimed the rights both to the Duchy of Milan as a grandson of Valentina Visconti, and to the Kingdom of Naples as heir to the House of Anjou. Before starting his campaign in Italy, Louis XII secured an alliance with Savoy, the Republic of Venice, and Pope Alexander VI. In the summer of 1499, he came to Italy with a formidable army; without having to fight a single battle, he occupied Piedmont, as well as Genoa and Cremona. On 6 October, he settled in Milan, which had been abandoned the previous month by Duke Ludovico, who fled to the Tyrol under the protection of his nephew-by-marriage Emperor Maximilian I.

Alexander VI allied himself with Louis XII in return for the King's support in establishing Alexander's son Cesare Borgia, the Duke of Valentinois, as ruler in Romagna. Alexander issued a papal bull on 9 March 1499 to invalidate the investiture of the feudal lords, including Caterina.

When the French army left Milan with Cesare to begin the conquest of Romagna, Ludovico il Moro regained the Duchy with the help of the Austrians.

Caterina sought relief from Florence against the approaching French army, but Florence was threatened by the Pope, so she was left alone to defend herself. She immediately began to recruit and train many soldiers and began to store weapons, ammunition and food. She reinforced the defenses, especially that of Ravaldino where she resided and which was already considered impenetrable. She also sent her children to Florence.

On 24 November, Cesare Borgia arrived in Imola. The city gates were opened by the inhabitants, and he was able to take possession, after having conquered the fortress where the castellan Dionigi Naldi of Brisighella had resisted for several days. After seeing what had happened there, Caterina asked the people of Forlì if they also wanted to capitulate to Borgia, or if they wanted to be defended and endure the resulting siege. Because the people hesitated in answering, Caterina absolved the citizens of Forlì of their oath of fealty, and sealed herself in Ravaldino.

On 19 December, the Duke of Valentinois took possession of Forlì and began the siege of the fortress. Caterina repeatedly refused all offers of peace, from Cesare and from Cardinal Riario. In response, Cesare offered 10,000 ducats for her, dead or alive. Caterina tried to capture Cesare when he came near the fortress to talk to her, but the attempt failed.

Rome

Cesare obtained custody of Caterina from the French general, Yves d'Allègre, promising that he would treat her not as a prisoner but as a guest. Caterina and her entourage were therefore forced to go with the army that was preparing to conquer Pesaro. The conquest had to be postponed because on 5 February Ludovico il Moro returned to Milan, forcing French troops to turn back.

Cesare departed alone with the papal army for Rome, where he took Caterina. In Rome, she was held in the Belvedere Palace. Towards the end of March, Caterina tried to escape but she was discovered and immediately imprisoned at Castel Sant'Angelo.

To justify Caterina's imprisonment, Pope Alexander VI accused her of trying to kill him in November 1499 with letters impregnated with poison, as a response to the papal bull which had deprived the countess of her fiefdoms.

Even today it is not known if the accusation was founded or not. Machiavelli believed that Caterina had tried to poison the Pope, while other historians, such as Jacob Burckhardt and Ferdinand Gregorovius, are not certain. An inconclusive and unfinished trial took place, and Caterina remained imprisoned until 30 June 1501, when she was released by Yves d'Allègre, who had come to Rome with the army of Louis XII for the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples. Alexander VI alleged that Caterina signed documents renouncing all of her fiefs, because in the meantime his son Cesare, with the acquisition of Pesaro, Rimini, and Faenza, was appointed Duke of Romagna.

After a brief stay in the residence of Cardinal Riario, Caterina embarked from Livorno to Florence, where her children were waiting for her.

Florence

In Florence, Caterina lived in the villas which had belonged to her third husband Giovanni de' Medici, often staying at the Villa Medici di Castello. Soon, she complained of being mistreated and living in a strained financial situation.

For many years she conducted a legal battle against her brother-in-law Lorenzo de' Medici for the custody of her son Giovanni, who was entrusted to him during her imprisonment. The battle over Giovanni's custody, and inheritance, and loans with Medici continued on for four years. While she had to pay back her loans to Medici, she was able to regain guardianship of Giovani and his inheritance. In 1504, her son was finally returned to her, because the judge recognized that her confinement as a prisoner of war was not comparable to the detention of a criminal.

With the death of Pope Alexander VI on 18 August 1503, Cesare Borgia lost all his power. This reopened the possibility of restoring to power all the old feudal lords of the Romagna who had been deposed. Caterina lost no time in sending letters to adherents, and pleaded her case to Pope Julius II in her own name and that of her son Ottaviano Riario. The new Pope was favourable to restoring the lordships of Imola and Forlì to the Riarios, but the populace of both cities declared that a majority of the people opposed the return of the Countess, so that the domain passed instead to Antonio Maria Ordelaffi on 22 October 1503.

After having lost her last chance to return to her former political power with Imola and Forlì, Caterina spent the last years of her life dedicated to her children, in particular to her youngest son Giovanni (her favourite and the most like her in personality and character). She also conducted a series of experiments in alchemy, the results of which were recorded in a manuscript titled "Gli Experimenti de la Ex.ma S.r Caterina da Furlj Matre de lo inllux.mo S.r Giouanni de Medici", or "Gli Experimenti". The book, dating back to 1500, contains a total of 454 recipes, roughly 66 of which are cosmetic related, 358 medicinal, and 38 alchemical. Her experimental activities situate her at the origins of a Medici interest that stretched well into the seventeenth century.

In April 1509, Caterina's health declined and was stricken by a severe case of pneumonia. She appeared to have recovered, but had a relapse of the disease, after which she made her will and arranged her burial. At the age of forty-six years, "The Tiger of Forlì", who had "frightened all of Romagna", died on 28 May 1509. Her body was placed in a small tomb in the chapel of Le Murate in Florence, a convent of nuns whom Caterina had befriended during her time in that city, and where she had kept a cell as a spiritual retreat. During the 1830s, the nuns were forced to leave the property, and in 1845 it was redesigned as a prison. Sometime during this renovation, Caterina's bones disappeared.

Appearance and personality

This is how the Florentine historian Bartolomeo Cerretani describes her:

"She was wise, animose, great: complex, beautiful face, she spoke little. She wore a satin robe with two arms of trawl, a black velvet caper on the French, a man's girdle, and scarsella full of golden ducats; a sickle for the use of retort next to it, and among the soldiers at the foot, and on horseback was feared much, because that woman with weapons in hand was proud and cruel. She was the non-legitimate daughter of Count Francesco Sforza, the first captain of his time and to whom she was very similar in soul and daring, and she did not lack, being adorned with singular virtue, of some vice not small nor vulgar."

Marin Sanudo called her "female almost virago, cruelest", in relation to the massacre she made of the children and pregnant women of the conspirators, following the death of her second husband Giacomo Feo.

The leader Fracasso says she is "cunning", ready to change parties on the occasion, but specifies that "to be a woman she is not without fear of her own things".

The future cardinal Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena, in a letter in which he narrates to Piero de' Medici the "strange takeover" of Caterina with the Duke of Calabria Ferrandino d'Aragona (which took place on 23 September 1494), described her ugly in the face, bringing back in this the impressions of Ferrandino himself. In fact, although Caterina had a reputation among posterity as a woman of great beauty, the medals of the time depict a woman with masculine traits and somewhat corpulent.

Around 1502, according to an informant of Isabella d'Este, Caterina was "so fat that I could not make the comparison". Corpulence was, moreover, very common within the Sforza family: Caterina's father Galeazzo Maria himself, to whom Caterina was very similar, did not wear the cuirass that would perhaps have saved him from death—which he went to meet—"so as not to seem too fat".

In the prime of her youth, Caterina Sforza was described as above average in height, curvaceous yet well-proportioned, and endowed with a generous bosom. She had a pale complexion, large eyes, high arched eyebrows that gave her a penetrating gaze, and a broad forehead. From her father she inherited the distinctive Sforza features: a prominent, slightly hooked nose and a strong, protruding chin. Her hair was wavy and usually tied back, and while many sources describe her as blonde and fair-skinned, it remains uncertain whether this appearance was natural or enhanced through cosmetic mixtures. However, naturally blonde hair was not uncommon in the Sforza lineage, where several members were known for their fair Northern Italian features. Caterina's appearance closely aligned with the beauty ideals of the time, which favored fair skin, light hair, and contrasting dark eyebrows in women.

Lovers

Caterina was known to have had numerous lovers, although often subjects or soldiers of low social background, rough or unknown. Without love she could not live long and, when she was affected, she flared up to such an extent that she became the favorite captain of the militias, arbiter of politics and governor of the city. The most famous case is that of Giacomo Feo, for whose death she felt incredible pain. Giovanni de' Medici was also called Catherine's "favorite", although they contracted marriage. Others less known were the two brothers Polidoro and Achille Tiberti da Cesena, Giovanni da Casale (once a favorite of her uncle Ludovico il Moro), Francesco Fortunati (piovano di Cascina, canon and confessor), Ottaviano Manfredi (whom Caterina held dear, and whose murder she avenged with her customary cruelty), and Bartolomeo da Cremona known as Baccino (his last castellan of Ravaldino, to whom Caterina also left a legacy in her will).

In particular, the beautiful Giovanni da Casale is defined by Francesco Guicciardini as "a man of the most vile nation, but who came to some degree honored because in the prime of his age he had been grateful to Ludovico Sforza, and then famous for the well-known love of that Madonna [Caterina]". François de Beaucaire says of he: "He was born of an obscure place, and a homunculus of the lowest strength, since as an adolescent for the superiority of beauty he was in delights with Ludovico Sforza, he had obtained an honorable military rank". Caterina gave him full freedom of maneuver in the political events of Forlì, moreover the rumors of their relationship are present in the vast majority of contemporary sources and supported by the fact that Caterina was the only one not to reproach Casale for the loss of the fortress of Forlì. Indeed, during the siege, as Lucido Cataneo states, "the Countess ... he deprecated solum for Joanne's health more than his own."

Although according to the rumors of the time all these were undoubtedly lovers of Caterina (Giovanni da Casale himself had to deny and exonerate herself), in the opinion of her biographer, Pier Desiderio Pasolini, they were instead lovers not loved. These rumors, however, aroused the popular imagination to such an extent that there was talk of certain wells ending in sharp razors into which Catherine threw her political opponents and her old lovers after having lured them by deception.

Even Galeazzo Sanseverino, whom Caterina wanted as her fourth husband, was considered a beautiful man, and was in fact favored (much more than Giovanni da Casale) of her uncle Ludovico. Known is then the "strange embrace" with the Duke of Calabria Ferrandino d'Aragona who, being a good-looking young man and knowing the passion of the countess, presented himself to her all "tight and Neapolitan beautifully dressed", in order to earn the political alliance. Although he did not like the countess, according to one informant "they shook hands and scratched" and there was "much blinking of the eyes and shrinking of the shoulders". However, it does not seem that any carnal relationship could be consummated because the then lover of the countess, Giacomo Feo, showed himself very jealous, in fact Caterina and Ferrandino stayed together for about two hours, but "videntibus omnibus [under the eyes of all], because the Pheo wants her for himself".

Issue

From her first marriage with Girolamo Riario, Caterina had six children:

Bianca (March 1478 – 1524), married firstly in 1494, Astorre III Manfredi, Lord of Faenza (d. 1502), and secondly in 1503, Troilo I de' Rossi (d. 1521), the first Marchese di San Secondo From her second marriage, she had nine children.

Ottaviano (31 August 1479 – 6 October 1523), Lord of Imola and Forlì (1488–99), later Bishop of Volterra and Viterbo

Cesare (24 August 1480 – 18 December 1540), Archbishop of Pisa and Latin Patriarch of Alexandria

Giovanni Livio (Forlì, 30 October 1484 –1496)

Galeazzo Maria (Forlì, 4 December 1485 –Bologna, 1557), married in 1504, Maria Giovanna della Rovere (b. Senigallia, 1486 – d. Bologna 1538), Dowager Lady of Camerino, and eldest sister of Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. They had a daughter, Giulia, and a son, Giulio (d. 1565). Their descendants, who later received a ducal title, became extinct in the male line with Francesco Maria Riario della Rovere in 1676.

Francesco, nicknamed "Sforzino" (Imola, 17 August 1487 – 1546), Bishop of Lucca

From her second marriage with Giacomo Feo, Caterina had one son:

Bernardino, later renamed Carlo (April 1489 – 1509)

From her third marriage to Giovanni de' Medici, Caterina had one son:

Ludovico (6 April 1498 – 30 November 1526), renamed Giovanni after the death of his father, one of the greatest condottieri of his time and a national hero, known as "Giovanni delle Bande Nere". He married Maria Salviati (17 July 1499 – 29 December 1543), the daughter of Jacopo Salviati and Lucrezia di Lorenzo de' Medici. Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1519–1574) was their son.

Legacy

In her book The Warrior Queens: Boadicea's Chariot, British historian Antonia Fraser presents Caterina Sforza as a contrasting figure to her contemporary Isabella I of Castile. Fraser points out that whilst the murders ordered by Caterina were no worse than the massacres ordered by Isabella, historians have been much harsher in their judgment of the former. Fraser accounts for this by pointing out that Isabella's actions were sanctioned by the Church, as they were carried out in the name of Catholicism, whilst Caterina's were motivated by the personal, secular desire to preserve her property and rights.

Experiments

Caterina Sforza had a thirst for knowledge and had interests in alchemy, cosmetics, and medicine. She crafted a manuscript containing 454 recipes, with the recipes and experiments listed in alphabetical order. The recipes within her manuscript can be divided into three categories: "Lisci" (Cosmetics), "Chimica" (Chemistry), and "Medicine" (Medicine). Some of her medicinal recipes include remedies for lice, fever, and to heal wounds. Additionally her medicinal work focused on creating quintessence and the philosopher's stone, both of which are thought to have healing and protective properties that would advance her medicinal work. She also created cosmetic recipes for perfume, and methods to lighten skin and hair. Many of the experiment's cross categories as the cosmetic and medical recipes relied on the same procedures and ingredients as the chemical recipes.

When Sforza relocated to Forlì in 1484, she continued her experiments. She had medicinal gardens constructed where she was able to develop the ingredients she needed for her recipes. Along the exterior border of the fortress, an extensive garden was developed where she could grow various fruit trees.

After her death, her manuscript was passed down to her son, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere. It was then passed down from generation to generation and stayed within the Medici family. The manuscript eventually was lost. In the 19th century, Pier Desiderio Pasolini (1844–1920), a descendant of Caterina Sforza and a historian from Ravenna, spent approximately five years acquiring documents written by Sforza. He then went on to publish the majority of her manuscript titled "Experimenti".

Alchemy

Caterina Sforza was a daughter of alchemy. She strived, as almost all alchemists did, to find the elixir of life and the philosophers stone. She created over 400 different alchemical recipes in her lifetime, from cosmetics to medicinal cures. In her Experimenti, she had procedures and recipes for many cosmetics ranging from lotions and lip colors to hair dyes. Additionally, she listed several medicinal recipes such as cures for sciatica, cancer, fevers, and coughs. While she focused on alchemy, her recipes became a foundation for historical pharmacology. According to Meredith Ray, the foremost historian on Caterina Sforza, "Caterina’s manuscript collapses boundaries between alchemy and medicine, practical and arcane, home and court." Furthermore, her letters provided evidence that there was a large network of shared information and practices between male and female alchemists.

One thing she focused on across all categories of her Experimenti, was talc. Talc, or talcum, is a clay mineral that occurs naturally. She used talc in everything from cosmetics and medicine to alchemy. Her experiments show that talc could be used for making women more beautiful, a cure for poison, and turning gold to silver. While she focused a considerable amount of her work on talc, that is not all she did.

As an alchemist Caterina's manuscript has many overlaps between what is strictly medicinal and cosmetic and what is alchemy, as she incorporated it into many of the over 400 recipes wrote about. For instance she had made cosmetics such as hair dyes and lotions, and these cosmetic recipes used alchemical principles and methods for production. For example these cosmetic recipes would, "use of herbs and plants distilled in alchemical vessels", the distillation process mentioned was a foundational part of alchemy at the time, and used throughout her manuscript across all disciplines. In many places her work with medicine, becomes alchemical due to the spiritual and philosophical nature of what she was producing. For example in Experimenti Caterina wrote about was "elisir vitae, an elixir capable of conferring perpetual health and youth" which is described "principal goal of therapeutic alchemy." She claims this elixir has the ability "to raise the dead", cure the incurable, and achieve many other feats that were thought to be impossible. The instructions for this elixir written in her manuscript, "recall the principal stages of the alchemical process as described in many formal alchemical texts", and describe her using glass vessels that were used by most alchemist at the time. Using these same principles Caterina also produced a "marvelous and divine water" which would improve memory, treat Leprosy, and cure many other aches and illnesses. This water is a medicinal remedy, but is alchemical due to its extraordinary and 'divine' nature much like the "elisir vitae". Although there is overlap between all these disciplines in her writing she has other more apparent alchemy related endeavors that did not have any cosmetic or medicinal advantages. For instance Caterina was regent of Forlì and Imola, and needed to alleviate financial burden to further her political standing, so she utilized alchemy. She would make metal appear to be gold by changing its weight and color via principles of alchemy.

Depictions in art

While her role as a ruler was considered to be masculine, Caterina had series of portrait medals that embodied her diplomatic skills and political power as a successful regent. At the time, portrait medals were important among the noble society and could be distributed and exchanged as a way to communicate self-presentation, characteristic, and accomplishments of that person. Caterina's first medal represented her beauty, womanly virtue, and conformity to the female role as a noble wife and mother. When Girolamo died, Caterina's next medal represented loyalty and protection of her family with her new position as a chaste widow. While it was feminine, it was also clearly masculine because it represented her additional powerful position as a regent.

A 2023 study brings to the forefront and supports the so far little-followed hypothesis that she was represented allegorically in the form of the Lady with an Ermine painted by Leonardo da Vinci.

In Machiavelli

Caterina is one of the few women discussed by Machiavelli at length, specifically regarding the legend of her having shown her genitalia after regaining the fortress of Ravaldino. Machiavelli, "who had occasion to treat with Sforza on behalf of Florence [...] [describes] how Sforza, in response to her foes' threats to kill her hostage children, lifted her skirts, pointed to her genitalia, and retorted that she could make more."

Machiavelli describes the incident and its context as follows:

Some conspirators of Furli [sic] killed the Count Girolamo, their lord, and took his wife and children, who were of tender age, prisoners. Believing, however, that they could not be secure if they did not obtain possession of the castle, which the castellan refused to surrender, the Lady Catharine, as the Countess was called, promised to the conspirators to procure its surrender if they would allow her to enter it, leaving them her children as hostages. Upon this pledge the conspirators consented to let her enter the castle; but no sooner was she within than she reproached them for the murder of the Count, and threatened them with every kind of vengeance. And to prove to them that she cared not for her children, she pointed to her sexual parts, calling out to them that she had wherewith to have more children. Thus the conspirators discovered their error too late, and suffered the penalty of their imprudence in perpetual exile.

However, this account "would appear to have originated with Machiavelli", and is not based on historical fact. He retold the story on multiple occasions, first in his Discourses on Livy (written around 1517), and then in his Florentine Histories (completed in 1526). Machiavelli himself describes the affair differently in his Florentine Histories, omitting the skirt raising incident and instead simply stating that Catherine threatened her enemies "with death and every kind of torture in revenge for the murder of her husband; and upon their menacing her with the death of her children, she said she had the means of getting more."

However, "the narrative of Machiavelli cannot stand against the absolute silence of such contemporaries as [Leone] Cobelli and [Bruno] Bernardi", neither of whom mention the skirt incident as Machiavelli describes it, and instead talk about the wisdom and political astuteness of Caterina, who is confronted with a losing situation yet manages to regain the upper hand. In all of these accounts she responds to the threats against her children with words instead of actions. She mentions how her eldest son is somewhere safe and that she is at that moment pregnant. The pregnancy is believed to have been a ruse, but with the conspirators not having any reinforcements and Caterina's forces approaching, with her children's usefulness as hostages rendered meaningless, and facing threats of vengeance for the murder of her husband, they had no choice but to retreat. Caterina would later on exact her vengeance on all the parties involved.

In fiction

In the 2005 novel The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis, Caterina befriends the novel's main protagonist, Sancha of Aragon, while both women are imprisoned in the Castel San Angelo. Both plot the downfall of Pope Alexander Borgia and his murderous son Cesare.

Caterina is the subject of the 2010 historical novel Scarlet Contessa, by Jeanne Kalogridis.

In the 2011 Showtime series The Borgias she is portrayed by Gina McKee; the show takes significant dramatic liberties with the details surrounding the siege undertaken in the name of Alexander VI. Her capture by Cesare Borgia is the final episode of Season 3, which was also the last-ever episode due to the show's cancellation.

In the series Borgia, also known as Borgia: Faith and Fear, she is portrayed by Valentina Cervi.

In the third season of the television series Medici, she appears as a young woman, married to her first husband, the major antagonist Girolamo Riario. She is portrayed by Rose Williams.

Caterina Sforza appears as a minor character in the 2009 historically set video game Assassin's Creed II and its novelization, Assassin's Creed: Renaissance. She plays a larger role in "The Battle of Forlì" downloadable content pack, wherein she is aided in the titular battle by the game's protagonist Ezio Auditore. Caterina also appears in the 2010 sequel game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and its novelization, as a love interest to Ezio Auditore. Three missions are dedicated to Ezio rescuing her from her imprisonment in the Castel Sant'Angelo.

A fictionalised account of Caterina Sforza's capture by Cesare Borgia features in Sarah Dunant's 2013 novel Blood & Beauty.

Caterina also loosely inspires the Grand Theft Auto III Era character Catalina, who appears in both GTA III and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.