Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta
Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta was an Italian condottiero and nobleman, a member of the House of Malatesta and lord of Rimini and Fano from 1432. He was widely considered by his contemporaries as one of the most daring military leaders in Italy and commanded the Venetian forces in the 1465 campaign against the Ottoman Empire. He was also a poet and patron of the arts.
Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta by Piero della Francesca
Fresco with Galeazzo Maria Sforza (right), by Benozzo Gozzoli
Sigismund in armor by Pisanello - Museo Correr
Sigismondo Malatesta, fresco by Piero della Francesca.
Condottieri were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational armies during the early modern period. They notably served popes and other European monarchs during the Italian Wars of the Renaissance and the European Wars of Religion. Notable condottieri include Prospero Colonna, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Cesare Borgia, the Marquis of Pescara, Andrea Doria, and the Duke of Parma.
The equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, Italy
Luchino Visconti defeated the Company of Saint George of Werner von Urslingen at the Battle of Parabiago in Lombardy in 1339.
Alberico da Barbiano, a mercenary alongside John Hawkwood, founded his own (all Italian) condotta, the Company of St. George, and reached acclaim by defeating the Breton company of anti-pope Clement VII at Marino [fr] in 1379 as well as fostering notable other condottiere such as Facino Cane and Braccio da Montone.
Detail of the frescoes, with soldiers
