BIANCA SFORZA 



disposition made her a favourite with all the members 

 of the ducal family. Always allegra e di bona voglia, 

 her presence was hailed with joy wherever she went. 

 She was on the most intimate terms with the reigning 

 Duke and Duchess, and frequently paid them visits at 

 the Castello of Pavia, where Gian Galeazzo lived in 

 luxury and idleness, dividing his time between his wife 

 and his horses. In May 1493, wnen Beatrice had gone 

 to Venice with her mother, Bianca came to join the 

 Duke and Duchess, and found them amusing them- 

 selves after their wont at the villa of Mirabello, in the 

 park of the Castello. Both Gian Galeazzo and Isabella 

 welcomed her with effusion, and her coming was the 

 signal for fresh games and merriment. After dinner, 

 the princesses went out into the meadows, to join the 

 peasants who were busy making hay, and pelted each 

 other, and rolled over on the new-mown hay, amid 

 shouts of laughter, until the sun sank behind the 

 pinnacles of the Certosa. Then the Duke, picking up 

 his wife on the pillion of his horse, galloped back .to 

 the Castello, followed by Bianca and her ladies, and 

 after supper they all ended the evening merrily, picking 

 asparagus and herbs for salad in the gardens. 1 



So they laughed and frolicked together, careless of 



1 Malaguzzi- Valeri, op. cit., 53. I would refer all readers who wish 

 for fuller details of the private life of the Sforza princes to this valu- 

 able and finely illustrated work, published by Ulrico Hoepli, of Milan, 

 in 1913. 



183 



