Ferrante di Sanseverino was the last, splendid, prince of Salerno, lover of the arts, general of Charles V and then a rebel to him, fled to the French court and died in France. His beautiful wife Isabella failed to restore the principality.
1568
Ultimo principe di Salerno
Salerno’s last moment of splendor before a long decline was in the early sixteenth century, when Prince of the city became the last of the Sanseverino, a family that held the fiefdom. Ferrante inherited the title from his father in 1508, while still a child, and held it until 1552, when he rebelled against Charles V and was forced to flee, permanently losing all rights. From then on Salerno lost the title of Principality and its autonomy, and its lands were dismembered and sold.
But before the dramatic rebellion, Ferrante had exercised his rights by dividing his time between the Neapolitan palace and the Salerno Castle, which he had luxuriously furnished and fitted out. He had surrounded himself with distinguished men of letters such as Agostino Nifo and had had Bernardo Tasso, Torquato’s father, as his secretary. He had also revived the Medical School by drawing inspiration from Lombard and Norman principles.
He was general to Charles V and took part in the conquest of Tunis, and hosted the emperor in Salerno at the Ruggi Palace on Via Tasso.
But, opposing the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition into Italian territories, he came into conflict with Spain and was deposed from the principality and fled exile to France, where he met his death in 1568.
His wife was the beautiful Isabella Villamarino, most noble, a true consort of a prince, as well as a woman of culture and artistic sensibility. She fascinated Charles V on his visit to Salerno, so much so that she intertwined with him an intellectual correspondence that can still be consulted today. And so she had an epistolary relationship with the Archbishop of Salerno Seripando, one of the protagonists of the Council of Trent. After her husband’s exile she repeatedly sought forgiveness for him, and her sorrowful figure has remained etched in popular culture, which has dedicated stories and songs to her:
“Nun m’ chiamate cchiù Donna Sabella
call me Sabella ‘a sventurata
aggio perdut’thirty-six castella
‘a chiana ‘e Puglia and ‘a Basilicata
aggio perdut’ ‘a Salierno bella
ch’was ‘o spass r’ ‘a disgraziata
‘a sera m’imbarcaj int’ ‘a varchetella,
and ‘in the morning m’truvai ‘negata.”
