ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
his grandmother, Lisa Sforza, a sister of Francesco, 
who possessed a large share of the great Duke’s 
courage and ability. After his father was killed 
fighting at the head of the Venetian forces in Tyrol, 
Galeazzo entered Lodovico’s service and rose high in 
his favour. This brilliant and accomplished youth, 
who excelled in all knightly exercises, and took delight 
in art and letters, became dear to the Moro as a son, 
and was daily honoured with fresh marks of his con¬ 
fidence and affection. In 1489 he made Galeazzo 
Captain-general of the Milanese armies, and gave him 
the hand of his little daughter, who was growing up a 
singularly lovely and attractive child, “ counting her 
the most precious thing he had on earth.” 
On the 10th of January, 1490, the wedding was 
solemnised with due splendour in the Castello of 
Milan, before the Duke and Duchess and the whole 
court. Bellincioni, the favourite poet of the Sforza 
princes, wrote an ode for the occasion, in which he 
celebrated the bridegroom’s prowess in arms, his 
generous soul and noble heart, while he praised the 
charms of the youthful bride, “ the phoenix of her 
age and the heir of her illustrious father’s genius.” 
Bianca’s dowry included the city of Voghera and 
the magnificent palace in Milan, formerly given by 
Francesco Sforza to Cosimo de’ Medici. The Medici 
Bank, as it was called, stood in the narrow Via de 
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