Alfonso d’Avalos marchese di Vasto

A great Imperial condottiero, he was born in Ischia in 1502 and died at Vigevano in 1546. He was the husband of Maria d’Aragona. He joined the army of his cousin Ferdinando Francesco, Marquis of Pescara. In 1525 he took part in the Battle of Pavia in the army of Charles V. In 1535 he was given command of the military expedition against Tunis. In 1538 he was appointed governor of Milan. Paolo Giovio wrote his biography and Tiziano Vecellio immortalised him in a famous portrait on canvas. Alfonso d’Avalos also wrote lyrical poetry and was a refined humanist. On 3 October 1531 Ludovico Ariosto was sent on an embassy to the court of the Marquis of Vasto, encamped with eight thousand men in the region of Mantua. Duke Alfonso I d’Este probably sent the poet to ask for protection against the Pontifical army that had gathered in Bologna and Tuscany.  Ludovico met Alfonso d’Avalos at Correggio: over and above reassuring Alfonso I, the Marquis awarded the poet, as proof of his sincere admiration, an annual pension of 100 gold ducats to be paid in two half-yearly instalments from the customs and excise income of Castelleone, in the region of Cremona, a territory that belonged to him. But Ariosto only benefited from two annuities of this pension because he died in July 1533. To Alfonso d’Avalos are dedicated numerous passages of the Orlando furioso such as XV, 28, 2-4: "veggio un marchese, e veggio dopo loro / un giovene del Vasto, che fan cara / parer la bella Italia ai Gigli d’oro", XXVI, 52: "l’altro Alfonso del Vasto ai piedi ha scritto", and XXXIII, 47, 7-8: "L’altro di sì benigno e lieto aspetto / il Vasto signoreggia, e Alfonso è detto".

Tiziano Vecellio, Portrait of Alfonso d’Avalos Marquis of Vasto, Los Angeles, Getty Museum