Antonia Malatesta of Cesena

Antonia Malatesta of Cesena, also known as Antonia Malatesta of Rimini, was the daughter (or possibly the niece) of Carlo I Malatesta, Lord of Cesena, Fano, Pesaro, and Rimini. To help ally himself with the House of Malatesta, Giovanni Maria Visconti, the Duke of Milan married Antonia in the city of Brescia in 1408. They had no issue. After Giovanni Maria’s assassination in 1412, the succeeding Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, permitted Antonia to continue sharing the governance of the duchy for a few months. Although she soon retired to Cesena, she retained her title, Duchess of Milan.

• Antonia Malatesta with her husband, Giovanni Maria Visconti, depicted as Mary and the child Jesus
• A portrait of Antonia at the Certosa (a Carthusian monastery, probably in Pavia) and a portrait of her husband

• Bellarion, by Raphael Sabatini