BERNIE LIVES!

JANE EYRE (2011)

Giovanna d'Aragona, Duchess of Amalfi (1477–1510)

She was an Italian aristocrat, regent of the Duchy of Amalfi during the minority of her son from 1498 until 1510. Her tragic life inspired several works of literature. Giovanna d’Aragona’s life was destined for tragedy, with death following her even from early in her life. Her father, Enrico d’Aragona Marquis of Gerace, was poisoned by mushrooms when she was just a year old. She had two brothers, Cardinal Luigi d’Aragona and Carlo, Marquis of Gerace, and two sisters, Caterina and Ippolita. At the age of twelve, Giovanna was married to Alfonso Piccolomini, who became Duke of Amalfi in 1493. He was killed in 1498, stabbed in a fight with the Count of Celano. Five months later his son, also called Alfonso, was born and immediately invested with the Duchy of Amalfi as his father’s only heir.  

Giovanna became regent of Amalfi after her husband’s death, her son being an infant. Despite French and Spanish invasions, the state flourished. The Duchess was able to pay off debts incurred by her husband and live prosperously. She continued to rule Amalfi as regent for twelve years. Following the death of her husband, Giovanna fell madly in love with Antonio Beccadelli of Bologna, her major domo, so he handled the accounting of her possessions and lands, a chief steward to the household. He was of a lower status than the Duchess, who herself was of royal blood (her grandfather was the King Ferrante I of Naples), and she knew her family would disapprove of the pairing. Despite the difference in their positions in society, they secretly married and had two children, keeping their relationship private as only Giovanna’s maidservants had witnessed their wedding. Events they managed to conceal from Giovanna’s brothers for several years.  

Pregnant again, and perhaps aware that her secret could no longer be kept, she suddenly left Amalfi with a large retinue in November 1510, claiming to be going on a pilgrimage to Loreto. In fact Loreto was on the way to Ancona, where her husband was waiting for her. After stopping at the shrine in Loreto, she proceeded on to Ancona, at which she expected to be safe as it was beyond the bounds of the Kingdom of Naples. There she explained the situation to her retinue, most of whom then returned to Amalfi. In Ancona she gave birth to the couple’s third child. However, her brother Cardinal Luigi d'Aragona, used his influence to force the family to be expelled from Ancona. The couple then went to Siena, from which she tried to get to Venice, but was intercepted by agents sent by her powerful family, who brought her and her three children by Antonio back to Amalfi. Antonio managed to escape to Milan.

Giovanna, her maid, and her children were never seen again and were presumed murdered. Matteo Bandello says that were all strangled at the instigation of her brothers, but their actual fate is not known for certain. Local legend says that they died in the fortress known as “Torre dello Ziro” in Atrani. Locals, however, prefer not to visit the tower, which they believe is haunted by Giovanna’s ghost. Her husband survived in Milan, unaware of his wife’s fate, apparently believing that his family were alive but held in confinement. He was himself killed by a Lombard captain called Daniele de Bozolo and three accomplices in 1513. (x)(x)(X)(x)(x)