The destiny of a lineage: its genesis and ascent

The history of the Vitelli family of Città di Castello represents one of the most significant and bloody parabolas of the Italian military landscape between the 15th and 16th centuries. Emerging from a context of bitter factional struggles, the house did not limit itself to producing mercenary captains of great value, but became a laboratory of military innovation that influenced the profession of arms in Italy. Its members assumed the lordship of Città di Castello; they embellished it with numerous buildings. Despite not being among the most influential lineages of the peninsula, the Vitelli provided the Italian political scene with several significant characters. As “highly reputable” condottieri, unlike other mercenary captains who were content with looting and good contracts, the Vitelli offered their availability without ever neglecting the project of maintaining their own lordship in Città di Castello and the nearby countryside. A lordship, it is emphasized, ruled with iron claws in velvet gloves, which left a relative freedom to the city institutions.

A family of popular origin coming from the countryside, its roots are firmly planted in the territory, where it, through bloody factional struggles with other city clans, managed to obtain a role of civic preeminence that, over time, evolved into a true lordship, navigating between the claims of the Papal States and the ambitions of the Republic of Florence. Unlike other houses that sought legitimacy through vast landholdings, the Vitelli understood that, in the convulsed chessboard of the Italian Wars, real power resided in the mastery of the profession of arms, which was expressed in a modern use of artillery, in the training of infantry and in the loyalty of elite troops, trained according to Swiss and German models. Even the second generation of Vitelli never lacked the ancient spirit of “ventura,” despite being in a much broader context compared to the original one of the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. The Vitelli, as condottieri, always maintained their autonomy: they lived with arms and for them they found themselves fighting on the battlefield, discovering in the late sixteenth century their reason for living no longer in the pay of Italian regional states, but at the service of the Empire, Spain or France. To the Vitelli, the only dynasty in Italy, a comic book history was dedicated in 2008 in their city, a sign that their presence is always alive in Città di Castello.

The parabola of the family is articulated through three generations of condottieri which, starting from the consolidation of city dominion under the first Niccolò, reaches the point of serving, as previously mentioned, the greatest European powers. This evolution is not without tragic moments: their history is marked by political executions, assassinations, vendettas and glorious deaths on battlefields, all elements that contribute to outlining a fresco of “blood and power” similar to that of other minor houses.

Thanks to the analysis of the sixteen profiles included on the site condottieridiventura.it, it is possible to reconstruct not only a genealogy, but a history of tactics. From the lengthened pikes of Vitellozzo, to the mounted arquebusiers and the caracole system of Camillo, up to the Flemish fortifications of Chiappino, the Vitelli represent the vanguard of an era in which war, in certain aspects, ceases to be similar to a chivalric tournament, in which the peak of combat is represented by the heavy cavalry charge, to transform into a more complex war machine with innovative tactics and strategies.

Niccolò Vitelli

Dates: 1414 – January 1486
Parents: Giovanni, merchant, and Maddalena Gherardo of the marquises of Petriolo
Wives: Pantasilea Abocatelli
Children: Giovanni, Camillo, Paolo, Vitellozzo, and Giulio. All became captains of fortune; the last of these, a natural son, also attained the bishopric of Città di Castello for some years.

The true architect of the Vitelli fortune was Niccolò Vitelli, a man capable of combining the finesse of a jurist with the ruthlessness of a faction leader. His figure emerged in a period when Città di Castello was torn apart by disputes between the supporters of the papacy and those of city autonomy. Left an orphan of his father at two years old, he was entrusted to his uncle Vitellozzo who directed him to the study of letters and law. This cultural background allowed him to act not only as a man of arms, but also as a high-profile politician: which allowed him to assume, at the beginning of his career, the office of podestà in different communes of central Italy such as Todi, Florence, Perugia, Siena, and Lucca. This character is commonly described not only as a man of great greed, but above all as a person whose goal was the conquest of power at any cost, without any moral concern: killings, confiscations, looting, and ruins were the collateral evils of his decisions. Having returned to Città di Castello in 1462, he worked for the commune’s land registry and discovered lands not registered in some account books. To thank him, the authorities decided that those lands should be granted to him for a third of their real value. Niccolò did not care for such an obligation: he did not settle his debts, and the owners could not object as they were exiles from the city or peasants delinquent in the payment of rent. Ambitious, with the appointment of Lorenzo da Castello (Lorenzo Giustini) as commissioner of Città di Castello by Pope Sixtus IV, Niccolò Vitelli promoted a conspiracy with some of his most trusted men. He assaulted the houses of political rivals at night and set them on fire. 17/18 men of the Fucci and Giustini faction were killed. Lorenzo da Castello barely saved himself in the massacre. The slaughter was justified as necessary for peace in the commune, as they wanted to prevent the entry of papal soldiers into the city. The pontiff intervened and appointed a new commissioner, who ordered his removal from the city by at least 50 miles. Niccolò reacted and at the head of 150 men forced the latter to abandon Città di Castello. The rest of his activity, in which the figure of the condottiero allied with the Florentines now began to prevail, is reported in the appropriate sheet of the site. With peace, the new Pope Innocent VIII appointed him governor of the Campagna and the lands of the Maremma subject to the Papal States. He died two years later, in 1486, leaving his five sons a solid dominion over Città di Castello. His descendants, like Chiappino, would go on to make the Vitelli name known on multiple battlefields, both European (France, Belgium, Holland, Malta) and extra-European (Morocco).

Giovanni Vitelli

Dates: † 1487 – June
Parents: Son of Niccolò
Brothers: Giulio, Camillo, Paolo, Vitellozzo
Children: Giovanni, Chiappino

Giovanni Vitelli was the eldest son of Niccolò; as such, he was the first of the children to support his father in the campaigns aimed at consolidating his power in Città di Castello. Although his career is less documented compared to that of his brothers Camillo, Paolo, Vitellozzo, and Giulio, Giovanni represented the operational arm of the family in the early stages of consolidation against the papal troops led by Lorenzo da Castello. On behalf of his city, he recovered Borgo di Celle and Citerna, controlled by exiles, using several pieces of artillery. For these actions, conducted without the loss of any men, the commune gave him the gift of a banner and a silver helmet. After having served under the orders of Roberto da San Severino in the service of the papacy, he went on to besiege Boccolino Guzzoni in Osimo, a condottiero from the Marche who, for his survival, had sought an alliance with the Turkish Sultan. Vitelli was killed by a spingard shot to the side after being wounded in the thigh by a verrettone (a sort of heavy bolt, 30-40 cm long, used as ammunition for the crossbow).

Camillo Vitelli

Dates: 1459 – May 1496
Parents: Son of Niccolò
Brothers: Giovanni, Paolo, Vitellozzo, Giulio
Wife: Lucrezia Baglioni, sister of Giampaolo Baglioni
Children: Vitello Vitelli

In his short life, Camillo Vitelli acquired fame as a valiant condottiero. For example, in the Battle of Fornovo, where he fought for the French against the troops of the Italian League commanded by Francesco Gonzaga, his behavior so earned the praise of King Charles VIII of France that it prompted the sovereign to take a gold necklace from his own neck and give it to him. Always in the pay of the transalpines, he is famous for an action carried out in Lucera against mercenary militias in the service of the Aragonese. He surprised a square of 700 German infantrymen marching from Troia toward Lucera. He assaulted the opponents with 400 mounted harquebusiers and pushed them back to the edge of a river with an intelligent combination of close-quarters combat. He made his men dismount from their horses and utilized, for the first time in Italy during a clash, the caracole system, consisting of the first row opening fire, the subsequent retreat of this row behind the squad to reload the harquebuses, the intervention of a second row, and so on until the final annihilation of the opponents. It would be said that on this occasion he invented a new type of unit (the mounted harquebusiers) to be added to the light cavalry and infantry. In reality, as Camillo Vitelli soon had occasion to notice, knights equipped with harquebuses were disadvantaged in their action due to the excessive weight and length of such a weapon, which caused the light cavalry to quickly return to the much more manageable and light crossbow. He died at the siege of Circello, in the province of Benevento. He ordered his soldiers to dismount and assault the city walls. At the first difficulties, he also dismounted and joined his men to continue the action together. A stone, thrown at him by a woman, struck him mortally. His death occurred after three days.

Paolo Vitelli

Dates: 1461 – October 1499
Parents: Son of Niccolò
Brothers: Vitellozzo, Giovanni, Camillo, Giulio
Wife: Girolama Orsini, natural daughter of Roberto Orsini
Children: Alessandro, Niccolò

Already at fourteen, Paolo Vitelli was reported fighting alongside his father Niccolò against the papal troops in the defense of Città di Castello. He dedicated himself to the profession of arms, as this was the fastest way to become famous in the Italy of the late 1400s, plagued by continuous conflicts. A valiant condottiero, he proved superior to his brothers Camillo, Vitellozzo, and Giulio, as well as many other captains of his time. Of a ferocious nature, it is said that he had sentries caught sleeping killed; enemy harquebusiers taken prisoner suffered the same fate or had their eyes torn from their sockets; at the conquest of Buti, he had the hands of captured Venetian artillerymen cut off. In the pay of the Florentines, he proved to be a greedy man, in constant discussion with the chancery regarding the payments for his contract; he was, moreover, rude to the commissioners who had to oversee his work. The delaying tactics he habitually used were mistaken by the Florentines for intentional inertia regarding a definitive assault on the enemy Pisa, with the aim of increasing his income. He refused to give the order for the general assault, even though 400 arms of the city walls had collapsed under the blows of artillery. The infantrymen previously launched into the attack were called back; a soldier who did not obey was killed by sword blows. He fell ill with tertian fever; diseases decimated his ranks. All this induced him to withdraw the camp autonomously and retreat to nearby Cascina. Imprisoned for suspected treason, he could not be released by the Florentines for fear of facing an implacable enemy in the future. Tortured with eleven pulls of the rope and subsequently with other tortures, he was beheaded on the first of October 1499. It is not known what he confessed. According to Francesco Guicciardini, there was no proof of his guilt. Paolo Vitelli endured death with a very great soul without protesting or complaining.

Vitellozzo Vitelli

Dates: ca. 1458 – December 1502
Parents: Son of Niccolò
Brothers: Paolo, Giulio, Giovanni, Camillo
Wife: Porzia Orsini, daughter of Paolo Orsini
Relatives: Brother-in-law of Oliverotto da Fermo and Camillo Orsini

Vitellozzo Vitelli is perhaps the most iconic profile of the house. A tactical genius and tireless experimenter, he was the first in Italy to organize his own companies of infantry according to the model of the German Landsknechts; furthermore, his men were armed with pikes seven meters long, longer than those of their opponents. The pikemen who served under his orders presented themselves with abundant hair falling on the neck, intentionally giving an idea of neglect; the clothes worn were simple peasant garments. The companies enjoyed an excellent reputation, particularly for their loyalty to the captain. He was a man of action of boiling energy, ignited by furious passions and a frightening capacity for anger, violence, and hatred. Regarding this last state of mind, it is said that one day, during an expedition against the Florentines, he threw himself on his knees before Duke Valentino (Cesare Borgia), weeping, to beg him with joined hands to allow him to take revenge on the opponents guilty of having put his brother Paolo to death. A complex figure, he soon cultivated the same feelings against Borgia himself. The growing ambition of Duke Valentino, and the fear of being eliminated, pushed him with other condottieri to take part in the so-called “Magione Conspiracy.” A proposal for reconciliation followed from the papal side. Along with Oliverotto da Fermo, Vitellozzo (suffering from the “French disease”) was the last, albeit reluctantly, to reach an agreement with Borgia. Lured with his companion to Senigallia, the Duke had them imprisoned and put to death. Both were strangled by Michelotto Coreglia and Marco Romano with a violone string. They died (it is said) both without dignity: with Oliverotto unloading all his blame on his brother-in-law and Vitellozzo Vitelli imploring mercy and the Pope’s absolution for his sins. The character of Vitellozzo was included, together with those of Oliverotto da Fermo, Cesare Borgia, and Michelotto Coreglia, in the video game “Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood,” produced by Ubisoft in 2010.

Giulio Vitelli

Dates: 1458 – 1530
Parents: Natural son of Niccolò
Brothers: Camillo, Giovanni, Paolo, Vitellozzo
Children: Three natural daughters
Nephews: Vitello and Giovanni

In the noble families of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was customary for legitimate sons to be destined for the profession of arms, while natural sons (bastards) were presented with an ecclesiastical career. Of the latter, not all accepted such a fate submissively, preferring to follow their own warlike inclination and give themselves to adventure. This was the case in Padua with the Carraresi (Conte da Carrara) and in the Roman countryside with the Colonna (Ludovico). Giulio Vitelli represented both the ecclesiastical soul and the bellicose spirit of his lineage. Appointed Bishop of Città di Castello in 1499 by Pope Alexander VI, in his early years, besides his activity linked to religious life, he also took care of the city government during the frequent absences of his brothers (engaged in their contracts) from Città di Castello. Out of hatred for the Florentines, who had executed his brother Paolo, he supported his brother Vitellozzo in his expedition to Tuscany at the head of 150 armed priests on horseback and 300 harquebusiers. The following year (1503), his enemies became the papal forces of Cesare Borgia, who had Vitellozzo himself strangled by the hands of Michelotto Coreglia. He was forced to flee from Città di Castello disguised as a soldier; he moved to Venice where he sought protection from the Serenissima. Reinstated in the bishopric upon the death of Pope Alexander VI, Giulio Vitelli always continued to dedicate himself, with varying fortune, to the profession of arms. He served Julius II, and with Leo X he was pushed to abandon the episcopal seat to become an apostolic commissioner. He died in 1530; he was buried in the cathedral of San Florido without inscriptions, as if wanting to hide in silence a life spent more in the roar of cannons than in the quiet of prayer. After the disaster of Senigallia and the executions ordered by the Florentines and Cesare Borgia, the Vitelli knew how to rise again thanks to the determination of a new generation of sons, often natural, who carried the family name into the service of the Empire, the Medici Dukes of Tuscany, and the King of France.

Alessandro Vitelli

Dates: 1500 – February 1554
Parents: Natural son of Paolo
Brothers: Niccolò. Cousin of Giovanni, Chiappino (I), and Vitello
Wife: Angela dei Rossi (married in 1530)
Children: Paolo and Vincenzo

An expert, bellicose, valiant, and sagacious captain. There is no lack of praise for his skills as a condottiero from commentators; at the same time, many of them highlight other qualities, not exactly positive, such as his greed for money and very doubtful morality. Alessandro Vitelli was a dominant figure of the family in the first half of the 16th century. He began his career in the legendary Bande Nere of Giovanni dei Medici, remaining wounded in a leg by a harquebus shot in 1526 during a clash in Milan. His life was characterized by a pragmatic opportunism: he served in the pay of the papacy and then, without problems, in the opposing camp of the Imperials. His intervention in the Battle of Gavinana (1530) proved decisive, succeeding in routing the Florentine rearguard commanded by Giampaolo di Ceri and, therefore, inducing the surrender of Francesco Ferrucci. Having become the “right hand” of the Duke of Florence Alessandro dei Medici, he supervised the construction of the Fortezza da Basso and, according to some sources, orchestrated the assassination of Cardinal Ippolito dei Medici by poison. In 1537, upon the death of Duke Alessandro, he entered Florence to protect Medici interests; he did not fail to sack the house of the killer Lorenzino dei Medici and even that of Cosimo dei Medici. In 1537 he fought the Florentine exiles; with the victory of Montemurlo, he obtained the surrender of the two main opponents of the Medici regime, Baccio Valori and Filippo Strozzi. He had been linked to both by deep friendship in the past. He promised them their lives. He handed the first over to the young Duke of Florence, Cosimo dei Medici: and he was immediately beheaded. Filippo Strozzi handed him a large sum of money to be able to survive. Initially, Vitelli refused to release him into the power of the Duke as he demanded a heavy ransom, said to be 80,000 ducats. The Imperials finally convinced him to yield in exchange for 25,000 ducats and the fief of Amatrice in the Kingdom of Naples. Strozzi would die in prison the following year, it is not known whether by suicide or at the hands of some assassins. In any case, the exorbitant behavior held by Alessandro Vitelli in that circumstance alienated the Duke’s favor. He thus passed to the pay of the Imperials, who used his services in Austria and Hungary against the Turks and in Germany against the troops of the Protestant League. He died in 1554, remembered as an excellent captain from a military point of view, but venal and ruthless from a human one.

Vitello Vitelli

Dates: 1480 – May 1528
Parents: Natural son of Camillo
Cousins: Giovanni, Chiappino (I), and Alessandro
Wife: Angela dei Rossi
Children: Camillo

Defined by Guicciardini as “pragmatic and prudent,” he proved to be a man of great skill, considered in Città di Castello as the main character of the local community, the true arbiter of city affairs. Belonging to the second generation of Vitelli captains, he never lacked the ancient spirit of “ventura,” despite a context different from that experienced by his father Camillo and the other sons of Niccolò. Vitello Vitelli lived in arms and in them found his reason for living; his world was made of battlefields that saw him over time, as a minor or major protagonist, in favor of the Venetians, Sforzas, papacy, and Florentines. He fought in the Kingdom of Naples against the Imperials under the orders of Lautrec. He died of plague in mid-May 1528 at the siege of the capital. His young wife Angela dei Rossi, in order to defend the county of Montone from the claims of some relatives in favor of her infant son Camillo, married her husband’s cousin Alessandro in a second marriage. With his death, Città di Castello returned under the orbit of the Papal States. In 1551, the printer Lorenzo Torrentini published in Florence a collection of letters addressed to Vitello. The 95 missives, dated between 1522 and 1528, document the recipient’s relationships with illustrious interlocutors such as the Doge of Genoa, the Duke of Milan, the Otto di Pratica of Florence, and the Marquis of Mantua Federico Gonzaga. All addressed the condottiero with expressions that were respectful and familiar at the same time.

Niccolò Vitelli

Dates: 1496 – 1529
Parents: Natural son of Paolo
Brothers: Alessandro
Wife: Gentilina degli Ermanni
Children: Chiappino and Giovanni

The second Niccolò of the house, brother of Alessandro, combined a military career with a sharp intellectual curiosity. Active between 1496 and 1529, he served the Venetians and the papacy. As a condottiero, the judgment on his work is contradictory: some judge him a valid captain and some, like the Venetian Sanudo, an “inexperienced youngster.” Author of a history on the war of Urbino and translator of Latin treaties on agriculture, Niccolò embodied the ideal of the cultured and warrior Renaissance man. His end was dark (at least according to legend): he killed his wife Gentilina degli Ermanni in a stable out of jealousy, only to be murdered himself the following year by Niccolò Bracciolini, the woman’s lover. This latter murder, which was real, triggered one of the family’s most famous vendettas, carried out by his son Chiappino and his relative Paolo many years later, in 1542. With the third generation, the influence of the Vitelli crossed borders and saw them as protagonists of Imperial and Spanish politics in Europe and the Mediterranean.

Chiappino Vitelli (Gianluigi Vitelli)

Dates: 1519 – July 1575
Parents: Son of Niccolò
Brothers: Giovanni
Wife: Eleonora Cybo, widow of Gianluigi Fieschi, who retired after the death of her first husband to the Florentine monastery of the Murate Children: Faustina, wife of Vincenzo

Chiappino Vitelli was undoubtedly one of the most illustrious men of arms of his century. Following family tradition, Vitelli (called Chiappino, or “little bear”) was started from a young age in the profession of arms along with his brother Giovanni. He initially served under the orders of his uncle Alessandro Vitelli. Characterized in mature age by a “monstrous corpulence,” which forced him to wear special harnesses to support the weight of his body, he maintained until the end an energy and tactical lucidity out of the ordinary. After having avenged his father by killing Niccolò Bracciolini, he passed into the service of the Duke of Florence Cosimo I dei Medici, of whom he became one of his most trusted men, extraneous to the logic of Florentine politics. He faced Barbary corsairs like Barbarossa and Dragut in the defense of the Tuscan coasts; he took part in the War of Siena, distinguishing himself in the Battle of Marciano in which Piero Strozzi was defeated (1554). His fame also expanded to Europe when he was sent to Flanders in the wake of the Duke of Alba. He distinguished himself there for the conquest of Mons: during the siege operations, he remained wounded in a leg by a harquebus shot. He did not yield to the pain and continued to command his men from a chair, demonstrating an extraordinary ability to adapt to that difficult moment, which earned him the respect even of his Huguenot and Dutch enemies. A cultured man for having studied Greek, Latin, and mathematics under the guidance of Tommaso Gnotti of Città di Castello, future Capuchin friar and general of that order, he became one of the greatest experts in military architecture of his time. Having fallen ill (July 1575), he embarked on a vessel to be treated in Antwerp. He died during the journey. Some chroniclers, instead, consider him a victim of some Spanish captain who, jealous of his fame, had him fall from his chair (given his corpulence he was forced to follow operations in this way) into a deep trench at a moment when he was inspecting some fortifications. His body was taken to Antwerp where solemn funerals were dedicated to him. The heart of the condottiero was deposited in that city; the body, embalmed, was sent to Città di Castello to be buried in the church of San Francesco.

Paolo Vitelli

Dates: 1519 – February 1574
Parents: Son of Alessandro
Wife: Chiara Savelli, daughter of Giovambattista Savelli

Famous captain in the service of the Dukes of Parma and Piacenza Orazio and Alessandro Farnese and the Spanish. Paolo Vitelli took part in the defense of Mirandola and the War of Siena, where he remained seriously wounded in the left arm during the siege of Montalcino. At the death of Pope Paul IV, he joined with Chiappino Vitelli (August 1559) to reconquer the ancestral land of Montone, at the time controlled by the papacy. Under the orders of Alessandro Farnese, he distinguished himself for his valor in the naval Battle of Lepanto against the Turks. He died in Parma in February 1574. He had a new residence built in Città di Castello in the Sant’Egidio district, which surpassed in magnificence and style the other two palaces built in the city by the Vitelli. It is said that it was Paolo Vitelli himself who created the project for the palace, which presents various inconsistencies. Various artists, including Giorgio Vasari, contributed to the execution of the work. The main hall is embellished with scenes of the military victories of the Vitelli family, while the chapel features paintings with scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

Vincenzo Vitelli

Dates: † 1583
Parents: Alessandro
Wife: Faustina Vitelli, natural daughter of Chiappino Vitelli

Vincenzo Vitelli was one of the last great condottieri of the lineage to operate on a Mediterranean scale. He distinguished himself in the defense of Malta against the Turks in 1565 and, as commander of the papal infantry, participated in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Despite his brilliant career, Vincenzo maintained the restless spirit of his ancestors: in 1572 he tried to recover with arms the marquessate of Citerna, coming into collision with Pope Gregory XIII. Subjected to trial, he was eventually acquitted. His end was violent like that of some of his relatives: he was murdered at night near Rome by Ludovico Colonna, by shots of harquebus and dagger, at the descent of Monte Cavallo.

Other condottieri of the house

Chiappino Vitelli (Giovanni Luigi Vitelli)

Son of Giovanni and brother of Giovanni. Valiant condottiero. After the usual vicissitudes suffered by his family upon the death of Vitellozzo Vitelli, he found his way to distinguish himself by following Bartolomeo d’Alviano in the adventure aimed at returning the Medici to the lordship of Florence. Subsequently, he shared with his brother Giovanni a contract with the Sienese to arrive, finally, at the service of the Venetians. He distinguished himself on various occasions, until he fell seriously ill in March 1511 at San Felice Panaro. He was transported to Faenza, where he died. His brother Giovanni was present at his bedside. † 1511 (March)

Giovanni Vitelli

Son of Giovanni and brother of Chiappino, Giovanni Vitelli proved from the beginning to be a valid condottiero. Forced to abandon Città di Castello upon the death of Vitellozzo Vitelli, he supported his cousin Vitello Vitelli in facing the papal forces of Cesare Borgia. With Pope Julius II he passed into the pay of the Papal States; he distinguished himself in the conquest of Bologna against the Bentivoglios. Later he was contracted by the Serenissima to counter the French and Estensi in Emilia and Romagna. His last undertaking saw him engaged against the Florentines. In May he gathered 1000 infantrymen for the papacy. Falling ill in Bologna, he abandoned the city to retreat to Città di Castello. He died in the early days of September in Imola. The funeral was solemn with the presence of the banner of Città di Castello and 24 torches. He is buried in that city. † 1512 (September)

Giovanni Vitelli

Son of Niccolò and brother of the better-known Chiappino, the beginnings of his career saw him in his twenties in the service of the papacy. Traces of him were lost for another twenty years only for him to reappear as a condottiero in the pay of the Florentines (against the Turks), the Imperials (in Germany to face the troops of the Protestant League), and at the siege of Mirandola. A sudden change of course followed with his militancy in favor of the French in the War of Siena. He distinguished himself in the defense of Montalcino and in the guard of Siena. Having returned to the custody of Montalcino, he was mortally wounded there. He died in 1554.

Camillo Vitelli

Son of Vitello, Camillo Vitelli managed to preserve the fief of Montone only because his mother Angela dei Rossi found a defender of his rights in Alessandro Vitelli by becoming his wife. He initially fought in the War of Siena in the pay of the Duke of Florence Cosimo dei Medici. He soon deserted to the opposing camp because he was lured by a higher salary and a larger contract. He spent the rest of his life in the service of the French, first in Tuscany and then in France. After the defeat of Saint-Quentin, he tried to return to Italy. He died of fever during the journey. 1528-1557

The Vitelli always remained anchored to military primacy. Even their splendid palaces, such as those built by Alessandro and Paolo in Città di Castello, are not just princely residences, but monuments to the glory of arms, with frescoes celebrating victories on the battlefields rather than mythological allegories.