The Borgia family (the Valencian-Italian noble dynasty that produced two popes. Callixtus III, 1455-1458, and Alexander VI, 1492-1503, and which became the most internationally notorious Renaissance family through the combination of genuine political ruthlessness and next literary-historical amplification that converted their real crimes into a mythological feast of poison and incest) is simultaneously more interesting and less dramatically excessive than the television series versions suggest. The real Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI. Rodrigo was his baptismal name, Alessandro the papal name) was an exceptionally skilled political operator, a man of considerable intellectual capacity and genuine aesthetic sensibility (the Apartments of the Borgia in the Vatican, decorated by Pinturicchio between 1492 and 1494, are among the finest examples of late 15th-century Roman fresco painting), who had six children by his longtime mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei and whose papacy was characterized by the specific nepotism, simony, and political violence that the Renaissance papacy routinely produced, amplified by Alexander's specific competence at producing results, which made his methods more visible than those of less effective popes.
How do you want to see it?
ItalyCompare the same experience on GetYourGuide and Viator, save what you like to My Trip, share it, and book when you’re sure. Italy’s most booked first.
The Borgias in Italy: Key Figures and Sites
Alexander VI and the Vatican Apartments
The Appartamento Borgia (the six rooms decorated by Pinturicchio on the first floor of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, adjacent to the Raphael Stanze) are the primary surviving physical expression of Alexander VI's patronage: the Room of the Saints (with the specific Pinturicchio iconographic program including the figure traditionally identified as Lucrezia Borgia as Santa Caterina of Alexandria), the Room of the Mysteries (with the Resurrection scene in which Alexander VI appears in full papal vestments), and the four other rooms decorated with the Borgia bull (the heraldic emblem of the family). The apartments are periodically accessible as part of the Vatican Museums circuit. Check museivaticani.va for current access schedule.
Cesare Borgia and the Central Italian Campaign
Cesare Borgia (1475-1507, the son of Alexander VI who became the military instrument of his father's policy of centralizing the Papal States under direct Roman control) conducted a series of military campaigns in the Romagna, Umbria, and Marche between 1499 and 1503 that conquered most of the central Italian signorie and briefly unified the Papal States territory under Borgia control. Machiavelli observed Cesare's campaigns directly (he was the Florentine diplomatic representative to the Borgia court) and used Cesare as the specific model for the Prince in the 1513 treatise, the "new prince" who achieves his goals through a combination of "virtù" and "fortuna" (calculated decisiveness and fortunate circumstances). The cities of the former Cesare Borgia campaigns: Rimini, Faenza, Cesena, Forlì (where the Caterina Sforza resistance against Cesare is the specific counter-narrative to the Borgia triumph).
Lucrezia Borgia in Ferrara
Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519) is the Borgia family member whose historical reputation has been most thoroughly distorted by the literary tradition, the poison expert, the incest accomplice, the serial widow are inventions of the 16th-century anti-Borgia pamphlet literature, not documented historical facts. The historical Lucrezia: three marriages (each negotiated by her father as diplomatic instruments, the first two dissolved by annulment, the third to Alfonso I d'Este of Ferrara in 1502 in which she found her permanent position). A genuine literary and artistic patronage at the Ferrara court (Ariosto dedicated his Orlando Furioso to Alfonso I d'Este in the court where Lucrezia was the primary cultural patron). And 18 years of successful management of the Ferrara duchy alongside her husband. The Este castle in Ferrara (the Castello Estense) and the Ferrara cathedral are the specific surviving contexts of Lucrezia's Ferrara life.
Q&A: Borgia Family Italy
What are the most reliable historical sources on the Borgias?
The most reliable English-language historical work: Sarah Bradford's "Lucrezia Borgia" (2004), a genuinely scholarly biography that separates documented fact from next myth. Michael Mallett's "The Borgias" (1969) remains the standard academic treatment. The primary sources for Borgia contemporary documentation: the dispatches of the Venetian, Florentine, and Ferrarese ambassadors to Rome (published in the diplomatic correspondence collections of each state), which provide the specific daily documentation of Borgia activities from outside the family's own interest. The least reliable sources: virtually all 16th-century accounts written by political enemies of Alexander VI, including Guicciardini and the Venetian diarists.
Internal Links
- Rinascimento Romano: Il Contesto dei Borgia
- Roma del '400 e '500: Pinturicchio e i Borgia
- Romagna e Ferrara: Le Città di Cesare e Lucrezia
- Potere e Violenza: La Politica Italiana
- Criminalità Organizzata vs Criminalità di Stato
- Mecenatismo Rinascimentale: I Borgia nel Contesto
- Appartamento Borgia Vaticano: Come Visitarlo
