She was the daughter of the condottiero Francesco Sforza, the future Duke of Milan, and Giovanna d'Acquapendente, his mistress, with whom he had five children.
[2] Between 1441 and April 1442, at the age of thirteen, she married Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini.
[19] Pope Pius II excommunicated and tried Sigismondo in 1460 and 1461, accusing him, along with many other charges, of having both Ginevra and Polissena killed.
[20][17] When this failed to have the desired effect on Sigismondo's behavior, Pius conducted what he referred to as an "ironic canonization by a new and unusual mode of speech.
"[21] On April 27, 1462, he publicly proclaimed that Sigismondo, though still alive, was damned to Hell, the only time any pope has made such a declaration.