Bologna

Is the city from which the Ariosto family originally came; the name in effect derives from Riosto, once a castle in the territory of Bologna in the  locality now known as Pianoro. In the XII and XIII centuries the Ariostos held important posts  for the city of Bologna. In about 1280 one Bonifazio Ariosto, rich and powerful, took part in the fratricidal fights that shed blood in this city in the region of Emilia. It was a niece of Bonifazio who inspired the reference to "bella Lippa di Bologna" in the Orlando furioso XIII, 73 and who was one of Bologna’s most beautiful women. In the life of Ludovico, Bologna was the city in which he undertook his first mission as a member of Ippolito’s retinue; in October 1503 he paid a visit to Lucrezia d’Este  the illegitimate daughter of  Ercole I and wife of Annibale Bentivoglio, the lord of the city. Ludovico was accompanied by a dispenser called Dionisio, probably Dionisio Alfani di Matteo, a relative of Ippolito d’Este. We do not know the reason for this embassy, which we know of only through a note for the reimbursement of Ludovico’s expenses. This note is dated 19 November but the mission certainly took place the month before given that on 2 November 1503 the Bentivoglios were chased out of Bologna following occupation by the Pontifical troops of Julius II. Duke Alfonso I d’Este, despite being Lucrezia’s brother, so as to maintain his policy of good relations with the newly elected Pope, made no move in favour of Bologna and indeed, as the Pontiff approached the city , went and revered him in Imola. The Pontifical army stayed in Bologna till May 1511 when the Bentivoglios returned to the city having made peace with their enemies. There exists documentation that indicates that Ludovico was in Bologna a second time in the period after he was ducal commissary of Garfagnana: for sure on 7 March 1530, together with Duke Alfonso who had entered Bologna with a splendid retinue of cavalry from Ferrara, there was Ludovico Ariosto.