How the Pio defended Carpi from the Empire to the Este, repeatedly dividing among their own branches

The Pio are one of the Emilian houses that, between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, built and defended with arms a small but tenacious lordship founded on Carpi, with offshoots in Modena, San Felice sul Panaro, Sassuolo and several castles of the Modenese mountains such as Brandola, Mocogno, Marano sul Panaro and Formigine. They obtained the imperial vicariate of the city of Modena more than once, first from Ludwig of Bavaria and then from John of Bohemia, and for most of their history remained tied to the Ghibelline side, though they pragmatically shifted between the Empire, the Holy See, the Visconti of Milan, the Este of Ferrara and the Republic of Venice according to the convenience of the moment. The Pio practiced the profession of arms in the service of the major powers, receiving recognition, followings and a concentration of wealth. Through these contacts they obtained enrollment in the Venetian nobility in 1405, and in 1450 the right to add the surname of Savoy to their own. They also formed shrewd ties with families of the Emilian and Lombard nobility, concluding notable marriage alliances with the da Fogliano, the da Correggio, the Gonzaga, the della Mirandola and the Este. As happened with many families of the small and medium lordships of the Po valley, the Pio soon split into several branches, all descended from the same stock but often in open contention with one another for control of Carpi; a rivalry that culminated, between 1496 and 1500, in an armed clash between cousins for possession of the city, with houses set on fire and hundreds dead in the streets.

The chronicle of the house is marked by a dense series of shared names that make the genealogical reconstruction complex; there are at least two Alberto Pio, two Antonio Pio, two Giberto Pio and two Ludovico Pio active in different eras, often confused with one another even by the sixteenth century sources themselves. Some branches of the family remained tied to Carpi and its direct lordship, others moved into the service of Venice, and others still, after losing rights to Carpi, settled in nearby Sassuolo. Below are the profiles of the eighteen members of the house recorded on the site condottieridiventura.it, listed chronologically and by family branch.

Guido Pio

Lord of Modena, Carpi and San Felice sul Panaro. Son of Egidio. Cousin of Manfredo Pio. Married first to Giovanna della Porta, second to a woman of the Dainese family, third to Agnese da Varano. He died in Verona at the end of May 1337 and is buried in the cathedral of Modena.

Guido Pio already fought in 1311 alongside his father Egidio at the siege of Brescia led by Emperor Henry of Luxembourg. Together with his cousin Manfredo he drove the Bonacolsi out of Modena in 1318; in 1319 he helped his relative seize Carpi. The two cousins obtained the imperial vicariate of Modena and Carpi in 1329 from Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria, and in 1331 the same title for Modena alone from John of Bohemia, rival of the Bavarian for the imperial crown. The two cousins personally welcomed the latter into the city. Guido repeatedly defended Modena against sieges by the Este; in 1336, worn down, he was forced to hand the city to Obizzo and Niccolò d’Este in exchange for 28,000 florins. In return he received only the lordship of San Felice sul Panaro. He died the following May in Verona.

Manfredo Pio

Lord of Modena, Carpi and San Felice Panaro. Brother of Bernardino, father of Galeazzo I, cousin of Guido. He married Fiandrina dei Brocchi, daughter of Gandolfo, heir to rights over Carpi. He died in Carpi in mid September 1348, a victim of the plague, and is buried in the old parish church of the city, depicted as a knight in a marble sepulchre by Sibellino de’ Caprari of Bologna.

Manfredo Pio shared with his cousin Guido much of his youthful exploits, from the expulsion of the Bonacolsi from Modena in 1318 to the conquest of Carpi in 1319 at the expense of the Guelph Zaccaria Tosabecchi. He obtained the imperial vicariate of Modena and Carpi together with Guido in 1329, and personally led the defense of the city several times against the assaults of the Este and papal companies, distinguishing himself in December 1332 in the defense of San Felice sul Panaro, where his troops defeated the Este and Paduan militias and captured their captain general. Unlike his cousin Guido, Manfredo kept Carpi until his death, which struck him in September 1348 due to the plague. A friend of Francesco Petrarca, he was described by Leandro Alberti in his “Descrittione di tutta Italia” as a wise lord and valiant in arms.

Bernardino Pio

Brother of Manfredo, uncle of Galeazzo I. He died in 1360.

Bernardino Pio had a less fortunate military career than his brother Manfredo. Captured in a skirmish near Spilamberto in 1334, he reappeared twenty years later in the pay of the archbishop of Milan, Giovanni Visconti. In 1354, with the Visconti forces, he took part with his nephew Galeazzo I in an offensive against Modena, seizing numerous castles in the surrounding area. The following year he was given the task of defending a fortified outpost on the Panaro; he was forced to surrender to opponents who secured his capitulation through an agreement made within the stronghold itself. In February 1356 he was defeated and taken prisoner by the Gonzaga at San Polo d’Enza. He died in 1360.

Ludovico Pio

Of Modena. Son of Galeazzo I. Brother of Giberto I, Marsilio, Giacomo and Antonio. He died executed in Siena in September 1362.

Ludovico Pio had a brief and dramatic path. In October 1360 he was named conservator of Siena; with Giovanni Salimbeni he subdued Montalcino, an enterprise for which the Sienese rewarded him with 500 florins. In September 1362, at the end of his term, a political upheaval brought Francesco Orsini to power; Ludovico was attacked in the street, while preparing to return to Carpi, wounded and robbed. He was accused of having conspired with the Salimbeni against the city government. After six days he was led to execution dressed in a heavy fur coat with a large hood over his head to hide the marks of the torture he had undergone. He was executed at the Pusterla, beneath the bridge of the Forteguerri; the executioner needed three strikes of the axe to sever his neck. His body was dragged and buried in the church of Sant’Agostino.

Galeazzo I Pio (Galasso Pio)

Of Modena, Ghibelline. Lord of Carpi and Campogalliano. Son of Manfredo. Father of Ludovico, Marsilio, Giberto I, Giacomo and Antonio; nephew of Bernardino. He married Beatrice da Correggio, daughter of Giberto and widow of the lord of Verona Alboino della Scala, and in second marriage Agnese dei Rossi. He died in mid March 1367.

Having succeeded his father Manfredo in the lordship of Carpi in 1348, Galeazzo pursued for nearly twenty years an unscrupulous policy, moving repeatedly from the service of the Visconti of Milan to that of the Este of Ferrara and back again, often in open rebellion against both. In 1354 he fought alongside his uncle Bernardino against Modena; already by 1358, after a series of mutual sieges and devastation, he made peace with the marquis of Ferrara Aldobrandino d’Este, to whom he had to hand over two sons as hostages and return Campogalliano. He did, however, keep the lordship of Carpi. In 1361 he had the opportunity to regain control of Campogalliano. Still in the service of the Visconti, in 1363 he suffered a heavy defeat at the fortified outpost of Solara. In his final years he worked toward a stable peace with the Este. He died in mid March 1367 and is remembered for his valor on the battlefield both by Leandro Alberti, who called him a man very expert in arms, and by Pietro Azario in his “Liber gestorum in Lombardia.”

Giberto I Pio

Lord of Carpi, Novi di Modena, Fossoli and Rovereto sul Secchia. Son of Galeazzo I and Beatrice da Correggio. Brother of Marsilio, Giacomo, Antonio and Ludovico. Father of Alberto I, Marco I, Galeazzo, Verde (who married the lord of Imola Ludovico Alidosi), Agnese and Niccolò. Husband of Bianca da Casate and of Bianca Fieschi. 1315, died January 1389.

He inherited the lordship of Carpi from his father Galeazzo I and shared its government for years with his brother Marsilio. Defeated and captured in 1363 at the fortified outpost of Solara, he was soon freed by the lord of Padua Francesco da Carrara. In 1370 he fought in the service of Bernabò Visconti against Reggio Emilia; in 1374, even though his territories around Carpi had been devastated by the Este, he managed to obtain recognition of the investiture of his own possessions. In 1375 he concluded, in Bologna, also on his brother’s behalf, an alliance with the anti Visconti league. After a dispute with Marsilio himself, settled by Niccolò d’Este in 1383, he received in 1387 from Emperor Wenceslaus of Bohemia the investiture of Carpi and its dependencies. He died in early 1389.

Giacomo Pio (Jacopo Pio)

Lord of Carpi and Budrione. Son of Galeazzo I. Brother of Giberto I, Marsilio, Ludovico and Antonio. He most likely died in 1395.

Podestà of Piacenza in 1373 on behalf of the lord of Milan Bernabò Visconti. The following year, after being expelled from Carpi together with his brother Antonio by their relatives Giberto I and Marsilio, he changed sides and allied with the Este, receiving from them in compensation the investiture of the castle of Budrione. Having returned to the pay of the Visconti, in subsequent years he served them both as a man at arms and as podestà of Bergamo. In that role he repeatedly fought the local Guelphs led by Merino dell’Olmo, whom he finally managed to capture in 1383 after his rival was severely wounded in combat. In 1387 he served in Friuli for the Carraresi of Padua against the Scaligeri and the commune of Udine, distinguishing himself in the defense of Savorgnano, and suffered a defeat at Godia in which 1,500 men lost their lives on both sides. In his last years he had the harvests in the territory of Reggio Emilia burned from the castle of Budrione. He most likely died in 1395.

Antonio Pio

Citizen of Padua. Son of Galeazzo I. Brother of Giberto I, Marsilio, Giacomo and Ludovico. He died in 1410.

Like his brother Giacomo, Antonio Pio was expelled from Carpi in 1374. He entered the service of the Este, then moved to Padua, where in 1384 he obtained citizenship. He fought the Scaligeri on behalf of the Carraresi. In 1386, under the orders of Giovanni degli Ubaldini, he took part in the battle of Brentelle, and in March 1387, this time under the orders of John Hawkwood, in that of Castelbaldo; on both occasions he had the task of holding the Carraresi banner bearing the Carro emblem. In 1393, still in Padua, he is recorded among the noblemen who bore the funeral bier of the city’s lord Francesco da Carrara. In his final years he held the offices of podestà of Mantua on behalf of the Gonzaga and podestà of Cremona on behalf of Gabrino Fondulo. He died in 1410.

Alberto I Pio

Lord of Carpi, Brandola, Marano sul Panaro, Spezzano, Formigine, Soliera, Guiglia and numerous other castles of the Modenese mountains. Son of Giberto I. Brother of Marco I, Galeazzo II, Verde, Agnese and Niccolò. He died in 1412.

In 1401 he supported Giovanni Bentivoglio in the conquest of Bologna. The following year he switched sides and fought Bentivoglio, by then lord of Bologna, on behalf of the Visconti. With Marcoardo dalla Rocca he was taken prisoner in February, along with 400 horsemen, at Massumatico. Once freed, in June he took part in the victorious battle of Casalecchio di Reno, where he was knighted at the gate of the communal palace by the marquis of Mantua Francesco Gonzaga. After the death of the duke of Milan Gian Galeazzo Visconti, in 1403 he served in the pay of the papal legate, Cardinal Baldassarre Cossa. In 1405, together with his brother Marco, he was invested by the marquis of Ferrara Niccolò d’Este with numerous castles of the Modenese mountains, including Marano sul Panaro, Formigine, Soliera and Brandola. In 1406 he was enrolled, with his brothers, in the Venetian nobility. In January 1407 he had the relatives of Nanni Gozzadini arrested in Carpi, despite having previously granted them a safe conduct. In 1408 he supported the lord of Parma Ottobono Terzi against the Este, and in the following years defended his own possessions against attacks by the Montecuccoli and by Francesco da Sassuolo. He died in 1412. The historian Lodovico Vedriani, in his “Historia dell’antichissima città di Modena,” judged him a man held in great esteem for his great valor.

Alberto II Pio

Of Carpi. Son of Marco I and Taddea Roberti. Brother of Giovanni, Giberto II and Galeazzo. Lord of Carpi. Father of Lionello and of Angelo, killed in combat in 1451. Married Agnese del Carretto and Camilla Contrari. He died in May 1464.

Initially directed toward an ecclesiastical career, with the appointment of apostolic protonotary and canon of the cathedral of Modena, this second Alberto gave up his ecclesiastical benefices in 1434 to devote himself to arms. In 1437 he became lord of Carpi. Over the course of his long career he served Bologna, Milan, Venice, the Aragonese of Naples and the duke of Savoy, who in 1450 granted him permission to add the Savoy surname to his own together with the coat of arms bearing the white cross on a red field. In June 1451, during an attempted incursion into Bologna, he lost his son Angelo in combat. In his final years he held for five years the command of the Bolognese troops as captain general. He died in May 1464; according to the historian Girolamo Tiraboschi he was a valiant captain of arms.

Marco II Pio

Lord of Carpi, Fossoli, Gargallo, Budrione, Novi di Modena, Migliarina, Cortile, Soliera and Mocogno; gentleman of Venice. Son of Giberto II and Alda da Polenta. Married Benedetta del Carretto and Caterina della Mirandola. On his father’s death he was associated in the lordship of Carpi by his uncles Alberto II and Galeazzo II. His cousins then entered the joint holding of the fief: Lionello, son of Alberto II, and the numerous sons of Galeazzo II. In 1469 he ousted from the lordship of Carpi his cousins, sons of Galeazzo II, following their alleged complicity in a conspiracy plotted against the duke of Ferrara Borso d’Este. He shared power with Lionello alone, and on the latter’s death in 1477 he was able to rule in fact as sole lord. The eldest son of Alberto II, still a child, was entrusted by him for his education to Aldo Manuzio in Carpi; he was later, for the sake of further study, sent away first to Ferrara and then to Padua. Father of Giberto III, Emilia (married Antonio da Montefeltro, son of Federico), Alda (married Giovan Francesco Gambara), Agnese (married Francesco Maria Rangoni), Lucrezia (married Michelangelo Scotti), Ludovico (a condottiero in the service of the Sforza and the papacy), Margherita (married Antonio Maria da San Severino), Enea, Ercole, Galeotto, Benedetta (a nun), Ippolita, Violante (a Poor Clare nun) and Smeralda (married Ludovico Gozzadini). He died in Ferrara at the end of March 1494.

Over the course of a very long career Marco Pio served the Malatesta of Rimini, the Sforza of Milan, Genoa, Venice and Florence, while always remaining a point of reference for the Este court; he accompanied to Naples Eleonora d’Aragona, promised bride of Ercole d’Este, and in 1476 stood as godfather at the baptism of Alfonso d’Este. In 1469, together with his brother Lionello, he accused nine cousins, sons of Galeazzo II, of having plotted a conspiracy with Taddeo Manfredi, husband of their cousin Marsabilia, the sole survivor of the massacre, in favor of the Sforza and the Medici; three of the cousins were beheaded, the others imprisoned for years in Ferrara. Taken prisoner in war more than once, including in 1480 by the Genoese with a ransom of 10,000 ducats, he always managed to buy his freedom or escape. He had Carpi surrounded with new walls and had a second tower built at the Pio castle. He died in Ferrara at the end of March 1494 and is buried in Carpi in the church of San Niccolò. He was called a valiant condottiero of men at arms by Girolamo Tiraboschi, while Anna Maria Ori, in the “Dizionario biografico degli Italiani,” offers a different judgment, describing him as an unscrupulous captain of arms and a refined gentleman, perfectly at ease in the lifestyle of the Renaissance courts of the Po valley; she notes, for instance, that he was in Rome in 1471 for the investiture of Borso d’Este with ducal dignity, and gave him as a gift a splendid illuminated codex, the “Cosmography” of Ptolemy, today held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Giberto III Pio

Lord of Carpi, Sassuolo, Baggiovara, Montegibbio and numerous other castles. Son of Marco II. Brother of Ludovico and of Enea, the latter wounded in 1496. Married Eleonora Bentivoglio, daughter of Giovanni (lord of Bologna) and Ginevra Sforza. Father of Alessandro, Girolamo, Costanzo and Marco. 1455, died December 1500.

Captain of Bologna on behalf of his father in law Giovanni Bentivoglio from 1484 on, Giberto Pio succeeded his father Marco in the lordship of Carpi in 1494, jointly with his cousin Alberto III. The arrangement did not last long: from 1496 to 1500 the two branches of the family fought each other repeatedly for control of the city, with houses set on fire, artillery deployed in the streets, and about 300 dead in the clashes of July 1496 alone. The duke of Ferrara Ercole d’Este, whose vassals the Pio were, repeatedly imposed truces and divisions, eventually forcing Giberto to give up his rights over Carpi in exchange for Sassuolo, Montale and other minor fiefs. In 1495 he fought at Fornovo against the French. He died of an incurable illness in Bologna at the end of December 1500 and was buried with solemn funeral rites in the church of the Annunziata. He is remembered as a proud and violent man of arms by Riccardo Bacchelli in “La congiura di don Giulio d’Este.”

Ludovico Pio

Of Carpi. Son of Marco II. Brother of Giberto III and Enea. Married Ginevra Maggi. He died in 1510.

Ludovico Pio fought alongside his brother Giberto III in nearly all the events of the long family struggle for Carpi; in May 1496 he was driven out of the city by his cousin Lionello, who set fire to Giberto’s palace, and 300 men were left dead on the field in the clashes. The following year he helped his relative temporarily regain control of the city. He served the duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza against the Florentines and the French, and took part in the battle of Fornovo in 1495. In the pay of the Papal States (1507) he garrisoned Bologna. In January 1508 he escorted the Marescotti, expelled from Bologna by the faction led by Gaspare Scappi, out of the city. In October of the same year he was present at the ceremony held by Pope Julius II in which the insignia of captain general of the papal army were given to the duke of Urbino Francesco Maria della Rovere. In December 1509 he traveled to Ferrara to deliver to Duke Alfonso d’Este, on behalf of the pope, the banner of gonfalonier of the Church. He died in 1510. Pompeo Litta, in “Famiglie celebri d’Italia,” records that Ludovico frequented the court of Urbino, where he stood out for his wit, and that Baldassarre Castiglione placed him among the speakers of “Il Cortegiano.”

Costanzo Pio

Son of Antonio, brother of Vittorio. He died in battle in October 1513.

He served in the pay of the Venetians in the final years of the Italian Wars, fighting in the Polesine, in Romagna and in Lombardy. In 1510 he fought the French and the Este; in September he was wounded in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt while assisting Leonardo Prato in an offensive action. In February 1512 he took part in the conquest of Brescia. The town was soon retaken by the French under Gaston de Foix, who took him prisoner; in October of the same year he was able to return to Brescia victorious. Still in the service of the Serenissima, in 1513 he fought the Spanish; in May he was captured by the enemy at Albaredo d’Adige, but was soon released, and in July he is recorded, together with his father Antonio, defending Padua along the stretch of walls between the Porta di Codalunga and that of San Giovanni. In October he followed Bartolomeo d’Alviano into the battle of Creazzo, facing the enemy on the left flank of the Venetian army commanded by his father. Both father and son died in the course of the battle. He is buried in Padua in the basilica of Sant’Antonio. Paolo Paruta, in his “Historia venitiana,” called him a man renowned both for the nobility of his blood and for his own valor, and Luigi da Porto, author of the famous novella “Giulietta e Romeo” later reworked by William Shakespeare, remembers him in his letters as a most valiant young man.

Antonio Pio

Of Carpi. Father of Costanzo, Vittorio and Niccolò; father in law of Ludovico di San Bonifacio. He died in October 1513.

This condottiero, belonging to a secondary branch of the Pio family, served the Republic of Venice for more than twenty years. In July 1495 he distinguished himself at the battle of Fornovo against the French, serving in the ranks commanded by Antonio da Montefeltro. When the latter refused to join the fighting, since he had received no orders to do so from the strategist Rodolfo Gonzaga, Antonio disobeyed and threw himself into the melee. In 1508 he faced the imperial forces and was present at the victorious battle of Tai di Cadore. He did not, however, take part in the battle of Agnadello in support of Bartolomeo d’Alviano; some historians attribute this to cowardice on his part, others to the betrayal of Giacomo Secco, and still others believe he was simply following the orders of the Serenissima’s captain general Niccolò Orsini. He entered Brescia and was driven out of the city by its own inhabitants. He then supported Orsini in his withdrawal eastward and in the defense of Padua. Despite the criticism he received, the Venetians did not give up his service; for his part he often complained to the authorities about the treatment he received, which he considered inadequate to his rank, especially in economic terms. In November 1511 he lost his wife, who died of the plague in Padua the same week that his son in law, Count Ludovico di San Bonifacio, also died. In October 1513, leading the left flank of the Venetian army, he was overwhelmed in the rout of Creazzo and drowned in the river Bacchiglione, weighed down by his own armor as he tried to save himself; he died in the same battle in which his son Costanzo also lost his life. He is buried in Padua in the basilica of Sant’Antonio. Pietro Giustinian, rather indulgently, in his work “Dell’historia venetiana,” considered him a rather distinguished captain, and not a mediocre one in the conduct of that war.

Vittorio Pio

Son of Antonio, brother of Costanzo. He died in October 1515.

He served together with his relatives in the pay of the Serenissima. Captured in 1509 at the fall of Peschiera del Garda, and again in 1513 at San Bonifacio together with his brother Costanzo, Vittorio Pio was freed both times through prisoner exchanges. He continued serving Venice in the following years; he is recorded defending Padua in June 1514, and in that same city, in February 1515, he took part in a jousting tournament organized by Bartolomeo d’Alviano. In October of that year he followed the Venetians with his company in the attack on the fortress of Peschiera del Garda. He was killed in the course of an assault by a harquebus shot.

Alessandro Pio

Lord of Sassuolo, Brandola, Mocogno, Spezzano, Formigine and other castles of the Modenese mountains. Son of Giberto III, brother of Girolamo, father of Giberto IV. Married Angela Borgia, cousin of Lucrezia Borgia. Father of Roberto, Sigismondo and Giberto Pio. 1487, died April 1517.

Alessandro Pio inherited on the death of his father Giberto, in 1500, the lordship of Sassuolo obtained from the surrender of his rights over Carpi. He served the Bentivoglio in Bologna together with his sons Roberto and Sigismondo. In 1506 he married in Ferrara Angela Borgia, who had come to the city following her cousin Lucrezia, wife of Duke Alfonso d’Este. His lordship over Sassuolo was repeatedly contested: it was taken from him by the duke of Ferrara in 1507 after the defeat of the Bentivoglio, by the French in 1510, and in January 1511 it was assigned to the imperial forces then dominant in Modena. In December 1514 and January 1515 he managed to regain possession of Sassuolo with a night raid. He went personally to Rome to plead his case before Pope Leo X. Only in his final two years of life was he finally able to enjoy in peace the dominion inherited from his father. He died at the end of April 1517 in Sassuolo, where he is buried in the church of the Servi, and was praised by Ludovico Ariosto.

Girolamo Pio

Lord of Sassuolo. Son of Giberto III, brother of Alessandro Pio. He died beheaded in Ferrara in October 1528.

In the service of the Serenissima, Girolamo Pio took part in October 1513 in the battle of Creazzo, the same battle in which his relatives Antonio and Costanzo lost their lives. In 1523, taking advantage of the factional struggles between the Caula and the Mari that threw Sassuolo into turmoil, he seized the city at the expense of his nephew Giberto IV, son of Alessandro. He was forced to abandon the town a few months later through the intervention of Guido Rangoni, and retired to Ferrara. In 1528, in the service of the duke of Ferrara Alfonso d’Este, he held command of the garrison of Reggio Emilia. He plotted to hand over to the papal forces the Porta di San Benedetto of the city; discovered by the captain of the citadel, he was brought to Ferrara bound on a mule in August, imprisoned in the Este castle, and beheaded at the end of October of that same year. Niccolò degli Agostini recalls his valor at the battle of Creazzo in his work “Li successi bellici seguiti nella Italia dai fatti d’arme di Geradada del 1509 fino al presente 1521,” describing in verse how, from Carpi, Count Girolamo, of bold spirit, worked wonders in the thick of the fight, striking down all he touched and scattering the field, so that among the dead and the badly wounded, pride and arrogance grew as the two sides clashed again and again.

Luca Pio

He died around 1595.

Among the members of the house recorded on the site, Luca Pio represents a condottiero active in the wars fought outside Italy. Having moved to France at the age of fifteen to fight as a soldier of fortune in Lorraine, he then served Emperor Ferdinand of Austria against the Turks in Hungary, and in 1565 took part in the defense of Malta during the great Ottoman siege. Taken prisoner in the war of Geneva while serving the duke of Savoy, he was freed and sent in 1569 to help the king of France Charles IX against the Huguenots. In 1576 he was named a knight of the Order of the Annunziata. In his final years he returned to Ferrara, where he became governor of Reggio Emilia, and by the will of Pope Clement VIII he obtained the first seat on the council of the Este. He died around 1595.