His position as the fourth son of Francesco I Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti[12] meant that he was not expected to become ruler of Milan, but his mother still encouraged a broad education.

Under the tutelage of many teachers, including the humanist Francesco Filelfo and the poet Giorgio Valagussa, Ludovico received lessons in Greek, Latin, theology, painting, sculpture, as well as being instructed in matters of government and administration of the state.

At the age of seven, together with his mother and brothers, he welcomed Pope Pius II to Mantua on a visit to the city, marking Ludovico's first public outing on an official occasion.

Together with two other brothers, Ascanio and Ottaviano, as well as the condottieri Roberto Sanseverino, Donato del Conte, and Ibletto Fieschi, Ludovico tried to oppose the regency of Bona, believing the duchy was in fact in the hands of the ducal councilor Cicco Simonetta.

In February 1479, Ludovico and Sforza Maria, supported by Ferrante of Aragon, entered the Republic of Genora with an army, where they joined Roberto Sanseverino and Ibletto Fieschi.

Following Roberto Sanseverino, on 20 August Ludovico resumed the march to Milan at the head of an army of 8,000 men, crossing the Passo di Centocroci and going up the Sturla Valley.

The Corio tells that when Ludovico and other Milanese nobles went to visit Tassino he would make them wait a long time outside the door until he had finished combing his hair.

[23]Bona went into such fury at his departure that, forgetting all her honour and dignity, she too decided to leave and pass over the mountains, and this bad resolution could never be revoked; but forgetting every filial love of her, in the hands of Lodovico Sforza she renounced the protection of her children and of the state.In 1481, perhaps orchestrated by Bona, there was an attempted poisoning against Ludovico and Roberto Sanseverino perpetrated by Cristoforo Moschioni, along with co-conspirators, the secretary of the Duchess Luigi Becchetti and the doctor Ambrogio Grifi.

In the summer of 1483, Gian Francesco and Galeazzo Sanseverino, Roberto's sons, defected from the Venetian camp to pass respectively to the service of Alfonso of Aragon and Ludovico.

They managed to capture Romano after a three-day siege after which Ludovico returned to Milan.Despite repeated success, Ferrara and its allies were unable to deal a decisive defeat to the Venetians.

The Venetians, knowing that Ludovico had incurred massive debts in support of his father-in-law, offered him peace in exchange for money, provided that they retained control of the Polesine.

He had wanted the wedding to be celebrated in Pavia and not in Milan so as not to give the impression of attempting to challenge Gian Galeazzo, who had married Isabella of Aragon in the Duomo a few months earlier.

Historian Malaguzzi Valeri disagrees with this opinion, pointing to how Ludovico was interested in the approval of his nephew, how he often sent him gifts such as dogs, horses and falcons, and how he was kept constantly informed of the care given to him.

[58] Disaster was averted by his wife Beatrice who, while temporarily appointed governor of Milan,[59] ensured the loyalty of the nobles, then met with military captains in person at Vigevano to supervise their move against the Duke of Orleans.

If the Duke of Bari [...] managed to represent on the theater of Europe a scene of much superior, as was observed, to his condition, it is largely due to this woman, vain feminally, if you will, and cruel, especially with the Duchess Isabella, but of resolute and tenacious character, of ready ingenuity, of soul open to all the seductions of luxury and to all the attractions of art.

(Rodolfo Renier, Gaspare Visconti[7])For two weeks Ludovico locked himself in his apartments, allowed his beard to grow,[75] and wore from then on only black clothes with a cloak torn up by a beggar.

How much it is possible to feel, and so much so that the more grateful we would have been to die first and not see us lack what was the dearest thing we had in this world He told the ambassador from Ferrara to relay a message to his father-in-law, Duke Ercole, asking for his forgiveness.

[83] From Cristoforo Solari he commissioned a magnificent funeral monument with their two lying figures carved in marble, declaring that "he would one day rest next to his wife until the end of the world".

[92]Lodovico, who used to draw every vigour of mind from the provident and strong advice of his wife Beatrice d'Este, having been kidnapped by her death a few years earlier, found himself isolated and devoid of daring and courage to the point that he did not see another escape against the fiery storm that threatened him if not in fleeing.

Francesco II died in 1535, sparking the Italian War of 1536–1538, as a result of which Milan passed to the Spanish Empire.The memory of Ludovico was clouded for centuries by Machiavelli's accusation that he 'invited' Charles VIII to invade Italy, paving the way for subsequent foreign domination.

Good-natured, a lover of peace, alien as far as he could from those dangerous daring that had made his duchy strong thanks to the initiative of some of his ancestors, and powerful and feared his family, for twenty years he devoted almost exclusively its activity in favour of the citizens and its own.

Elegant, handsome figure (the poets praised his shape), cultured, good writer in the vernacular and in Latin, witty, encourager of letters [...] pleasant orator, lover of happy conversations and of music, certainly more than he was of painting, [...]; passionate farmer and introducer by us of new crops and agricultural industries, modern of ideas in wanting provident and liberal laws – his shouting proves it – Lodovico il Moro, if he does not overshadow a commonality of a few years with everything that concerns him, he is, in our view, the most attractive, the most complete figure of a gentleman of the Italian Renaissance.Many historians, therefore, believe he does not deserve the title of "tyrant" that is sometimes attributed to him, which if anything belongs to his brother Galeazzo Maria Sforza.

And finally, when famine or plague came, he took great care of provisions and health care; removed the rubbings, and straightened the clumsy buildings of the city, he brought so much splendour and wealth to Lombardy, that by all he was called builder of golden peace, public security and grace.Ludovico was sometimes prideful, as in 1496 when he boasted that Pope Alexander was his chaplain, Emperor Maximilian his general, Venice his chamberlain, and the King of France his courier who had to come and go to Italy at his will.

[114] The chronicler Andrea Prato, who harshly reproaches him for having preferred Galeazzo Sanseverino to Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, paints a merciless picture, saying that he was indeed of rare and prudent intellect, but fearful to such an extent that he seemed to abhor not only battles but even to hear about atrocious and cruel things.

[115] Ludovico trusted Beatrice blindly, granted her great freedom, and entrusted her with important tasks, making her always a participant in the councils and negotiations of war.

Guicciardini boasted, in 1498, that it was out of jealousy of his wife that the Marquis Francesco Gonzaga played the "double game" between him and the Lordship of Venice, insinuating a relationship between Ludovico and his sister-in-law Isabella d'Este.

[122] Cecilia officially appeared at court in the summer of 1489, when the ambassador Giacomo Trotti attributed the cause of a certain mood of Ludovico to "too much coitus with one of his girls whom he took with him, very beautiful, several days ago, who goes after him everywhere".

Ludovico was close friends with Sanseverino, continuously bestowing him with honours and privileges, to the point of marrying him to his daughter and appointing him regent together with his wife Beatrice.

The Moors were Africans and Saracens, and so the most likely reason for this nickname was because of Ludovico's bronze complexion, raven hair and black eyes, as visible from many of his portraits[133] and as confirmed by the contemporary chronicler Gian Andrea Prato:[111] It was this Signor Ludovico Sforza with the negligence of colour nicknamed Moro; so appealed initially by his father Francesco and his mother Bianca, Duchi de Milano, in the early years, while with him still a child, mildly reasoning they joked.

It is a type of ricotta rice pudding, closed in a shortcrust pastry wrapper and enriched with candied fruit, pine nuts, almonds and rose water.