Galeazzo II Visconti
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Galeazzo II Visconti was a member of the Visconti dynasty and a ruler of Milan, Italy. His most notable military campaigns were against Pope Gregory XI, around 1367. These battles fought between the papacy and the Visconti family ultimately ended in a peace treaty. Politically active, he expanded the power of his family, where the Visconti first became hereditary rulers of Milan starting in 1349. He is remembered in conjunction with his patronage of intellectuals and writers, from his sponsorship of Petrarch to the founding of the University of Pavia in 1361. Galeazzo II Visconti, and his brother Bernabò, are credited with the institution of the Quaresima Torture Protocol, a vicious means of torture.
Galeazzo II
Galeazzo II Visconti who built the Ticin Bridge and Vernavola Park painting by Cristofano dell'Altissimo
Visconti of Milan
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The Visconti of Milan are a noble Italian family. They rose to power in Milan during the Middle Ages where they ruled from 1277 to 1447, initially as Lords then as Dukes, and several collateral branches still exist. The effective founder of the Visconti Lordship of Milan was the Archbishop Ottone, who wrested control of the city from the rival Della Torre family in 1277.
Depiction of the biscione swallowing a child, the coat of arms of the House of Visconti, on the Archbishop's palace in Piazza Duomo in Milan, Italy
1 March 1162, Ottone Visconti is the first Milanese appearing in the list of authorities surrendering to the Barbarossa after the capitulation of the city (19th-century engraving)
21 January 1277, after the victory obtained against the Della Torre in Desio, Archbishop Ottone Visconti enters Milan (14th-century fresco in the Rocca Borromeo di Angera)
Petrarch lived in Milan from 1353 to 1361, providing first-hand accounts from the Visconti court in his letters (portrait by Altichiero da Verona)