Pier Francesco Orsini

Ricerche e documenti by Patrizia Rosini, Vicino Orsini married Giulia Farnese on 11 February 1545 in Rocca di Giove.

This book gives the year of Giulia's death as 1560, while Bomarzo: Ein Garten gegen Gott und die Welt by Renate Vergeiner gives it as 1564.

[10][11] Vicino's wife Giulia Farnese was thus related to Pope Paul III twice over, the only child of his tragically murdered sister, and as the daughter of the grandson of his brother Bartolomeo, the line that inherited the family title and holdings.

In a book published in 1556, Le Imagine del tempio della signora Giovanna Aragona, by Giuseppe Betussi, Giulia Farnese Orsini is referred to as amongst the most virtuous ladies of Italy, on account of her constancy, having remained faithful to Vicino during the long periods when he was absent at war.

[12] Vicino's career as a condottiero began in 1545 when he was called upon by Alessandro Farnese (Pope Paul III), to assist with the fortifications of the Borghi of the City of Rome.

He was taken prisoner in 1546, while leading Pontifical troops assisting the army of the Holy Roman Emperor, King Charles V, against the Protestant Principates.

Here he had a family and, starting from 1547, created the famous Park of the Monsters (aka 'Sacro Bosco' or 'Garden of Bomarzo'), whose enigmatic constructions and sculptures are one of the most suggestive examples of late Renaissance art in Italy.

He and his wife had five sons, Corradino, Marzio, Alessandro, Scipione and Orazio (died in the famous Battle of Lepanto in 1571), and two daughters, Faustina and Ottavia.

Orcus mouth at the Park of the Monsters.
Portrait of Donna Faustina Orsini Mattei (1557-1594) by Scipione Pulzone