The King's Lovers, Ferdinand I of Naples: marriages of interest and the «bâtardises» politics

Intrigues and love affairs of King Ferrante I shake up the Renaissance. It is the restless and fascinating court of the kingdom of Naples. The history of the ruler is woven with the entanglements of his political marriages and the unbridled passions for the contentious lovers that deeply marked his realm. Naples saw the protégé of the House of Aragon emerge as an icon of strength and cunning. However, behind the majesty of his patrimony lie the intricate love affairs that colored his private life and influenced political decisions. Isabella of Chiaromonte, Princess of Taranto, is his bride. Rather than the harmony of marriage, the king preferred to venture into an intricate labyrinth of secret relationships and passions, a parallel world intertwined with official life. The affair with Diana of Sorrento, as significant and tumultuous as his life; Joan Caracciolo, the forbidden lady; and then Eulalia Ravignano: from all of them he had love and children for the sole purpose of disproportionately expanding the power of the House of Aragon to the detriment of the nobility. To bastard children, however, he always preferred legitimate ones, to whom he entrusted the highest powers. However, from his second marriage to his cousin Joan, the Infant of Aragon, he had only the ill-fated Giovannella. A brief interlude for a few skirmishes and here is King Ferrante again in the saddle of his passions and entanglements. Pierpaolo Tavino