Guido de' Rossi

He was almost certainly born in the castle at San Secondo, the residence of his father Pier Maria II de' Rossi.

Guido came to his father's aid during the Rossi War against Ludovico il Moro and was thus declared a rebel by the duchy of Milan.

Guido personally went into the enemy camp, where he was offered an end to the siege and to hostilities as a whole in return for swearing fealty to the Duchy of Milan, disarming and giving up several territories and his castles.

He accepted and in the end even gave up several annexations and territories and his castles on the border with Parma as well as handing over his son Filippo Maria as a hostage.

At the decisive battle of Calliano on 1 August 1487, when the Venetian commander-in-chief Roberto Sanseverino was killed and surrender seemed inevitable, Guido took over command and made a surprise attack on the German troops with 300 mounted archers, including his son Filippo Maria.

[1] In his "Historia vinitiana" Pietro Bembo wrote: Only lord Guido Maria de' Rossi with his company of cavalry, having first made a route through the enemy by force of arms and by courage, and having saved himself on the plain, met the Germans - over-confident of victory - and turned them back.