Il Valentino

a) Valentine captures Florence and extends its power even in Tuscany.
b) Pope Alexander VI dies suddenly but survives long enough to enable the son to consolidate his domains.
c) A variant of the above, Alessanro Borgia dies, but Caesar is not ill and unable to prevent the election of a Pope Julius II.

what say?
Any suggestions?
 
Introduction

No name, at least in Italy is so famous, respected, feared, loved, hated, considered despised than that of Cesare Borgia, better known as Duke Valentino.
Everybody, thanks to his unofficial biographer, Niccolo Machiavelli, know his actions, his victories and his cruelties.
However, the more you stop to study the events that led to his rise and few go beyond studying the government and its events, its powerful state of Romagna, was all about Italy.
Why we care to write a few short pages that will give a quick overview of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of Italy.
We will see how and where and also because the presence of the state of Romagna, influenced Italian history many years after death of Valentino.

About Cesare Borgia - From Wikipedia

Like nearly all aspects of Cesare Borgia's life, the date of his birth is a subject of dispute. However, it is accepted that he was born in Rome either in 1475 or 1476 to Cardinal Rodrigo de Lanzol y Borja, soon to become Pope Alexander VI, and his mistress Vannozza de' Cattanei, of whom documents are sparse. The Borgia family originally came from Spain and rose to prominence during the mid 15th century, when Cesare's great uncle Alonso Borgia (1378–1458), bishop of Valencia, was elected Pope Callixtus III in 1455.[2] Cesare's father, Pope Alexander VI, was the first pope who was openly recognized to have children with a lover.
Stefano Infessura writes that Cardinal Borgia falsely claimed Cesare to be the legitimate son of another man, the nominal husband of Vannozza de' Cattanei. More likely, Pope Alexander VI granted Cesare a release from the necessity of proving his birth in a papal bull.
With brown eyes and black hair, Cesare was acknowledged as a beautiful child and grew to be a fleet-footed, tall, handsome man of unlimited ambition, much like his father.
 
Early Career -- From Wikipedia

Cesare was initially groomed for a career in the church. He was made Bishop of Pamplona at the age of 15. Following school in Perugia and Pisa where Cesare studied law, along with his father's elevation to Pope, Cesare was made Cardinal at the age of 18.[2] Alexander VI staked the hopes of the Borgia family in Cesare's brother Giovanni, who was made captain general of the military forces of the papacy. Giovanni was assassinated in 1497 in mysterious circumstances: with several contemporaries suggesting that Cesare might be his killer,[3] as Giovanni's disappearing could finally open him a long-awaited military career; as well as jealousy over Sancha of Aragon, wife of Cesare's other brother Jofré, and mistress of both Cesare and Giovanni.[4] Cesare's role in the act, however, has never been clear.
On August 17, 1498, Cesare became the first person in history to resign the cardinalate. On the same day the French King Louis XII named Cesare Duke of Valentinois, and this title, along with his former position as Cardinal of Valencia, explains the nickname "Valentino".

Cesare's career was founded upon his father's ability to distribute patronage, along with his alliance with France (reinforced by his marriage with Charlotte d'Albret, sister of John III of Navarre), in the course of the Italian Wars. Louis XII invaded Italy in 1499: after Gian Giacomo Trivulzio had ousted its duke Ludovico Sforza, Cesare accompanied the king in his entrance in Milan.
At this point Alexander decided to profit from the favourable situation and carve out for Cesare a state of his own in northern Italy. To this end, he declared that all his vicars in Romagna and Marche were deposed. Though in theory subject directly to the pope, these rulers had been practically independent or dependent on other states for generations. From the view of the citizens, of these vicars were cruel and petty, when Cesare eventually took power, he was viewed by the citizens as a great improvement.

-- Next the POD
 
Oh, I love Renaissance Italy PsOD ao please do continue. I just hope Florence doesn't get too quashed in this TL, it is my 'favourite' Italian city-state of the time period (you've got to love Savaranola)
 
The first conquests - From Wikipedia

Cesare was appointed commander of the papal armies with a number of Italian mercenaries, supported by 300 cavalry and 4,000 Swiss infantry sent by the King of France. His first victim was Caterina Sforza (mother of the Medici condottiero Giovanni dalle Bande Nere), ruler of Imola and Forlì. Despite being deprived of his French troops after the conquest of those two cities, Borgia returned to Rome to celebrate a triumph and to receive the title of Papal Gonfalonier from his father. In 1500 the creation of twelve new cardinals granted Alexander enough money for Cesare to hire the condottieri, Vitellozzo Vitelli, Gian Paolo Baglioni, Giulio and Paolo Orsini, and Oliverotto da Fermo, who resumed his campaign in Romagna.

POD - The Conquest of Florence

Thanks to those "Condottieri", Cesare was able to move toward Florence, where the Medici were fearing is coming.
Here, to belive about Machiavelli, Cesare was almost persuaded to withdraw from the siege to the Tuscan capital.
What would have happened if he had retired, we willingly leave to the philosophers of history, continuing to talk about facts.
The march of the Duke Valentino on the city of Florence met little resistance, partly because the French, having learned that obstacles could have been a Medici Florence's ally Spain, is not spared neither soldiers nor money.
But he could not march directly over the lily city, had to meet Marshal De Foix, He reach Piombino that opened the doors to him and made him "Signore" of the city.
Florence was now surrounded and would have made a little push so that it can win.

...continue...
 
I'm thinking to merge with my new idea of Italian Confederacy, and i have a greater idea for Cesare...make him king of Naples!
 
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