House of Borgia (1501 - 1590)
Cesare I ( b.1476 _ d.1522)
Duke of Romagna and Lord of Piombino (1501-1522)
Son of Pope Alexander VI, he has carved with his father's help and French protection a duchy out of Papal dominions in Romagna. As war leader, he established an army modelled from Machiavel's theories, which would make him one of the most feared commanders of his time. Well after his father's death, he continued to exert great influence over Roman politics but his power remained tied to the French whom he served as condottiere to defend Louis XII's and François I's interests in Northern Italy against Spaniards and Imperials. He would die from syphillis while he was preparing to besiege Rome.

Alessandro I (b.1505 _ d.1573)
Duke of Romagna and Lord of Piombino (1522-1573)
Being the eldest surviving son of Cesare, his political education had been carefuly controled by Machiavel himself all while taught the art of war by his father, often accompanying in campaigns. His skills would be soon put to test with his father's death on his way to besiege the Spanish aligned Rome. His quick and quiet takevoer of the army leadership soon put an end to a wave of euphoria that had swept over the Eternal City on the news of Cesare Borgia's death: the young Duke and his army were continuing their march towards the city. Beginning his military carreer with the Sack of Rome, he would for most of his reign contain Habsburgs' ambitions in Italy at French behest, but also work to maintain the status quo between Spanish Naples and French Milan to keep room for his own ambitions.
As France became embroiled in the Wars of Religion, he would take de facto control of the Duchy of Milan.

Rodrigo (b.1535 _ d.1590)
Duke of Romagna and Lord of Piombino (1573-1590)
A nephew of Alessandro I, he ruled essentially as a puppet of his aunt Caterina Borgia, Dowager Queen of France, and her henchmen, Count Ottavio Farnese. Duke Rodrigo was a notorious homosexual and after the death of his first wife, he remained for long unmarried, also encouraged in avoiding it by Queen Catherine who hoped the Duchy to befall to one of her sons. In 1589, after the death of Queen Catherine and the beginning of another civil war in France, the party of Duke Alfonso d'Este, descendent of Lucrezia Borgia, staged a coup against the Farnese party. Duke Rodrigo was put under house arrest for several months before dying in mysterious circumstances.

House of Borgia-Este (1590 -)
Alfonso I (b.1559 _ d.1626)
Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio (1587-1600)
Duke of Romagna and Lord of Piombino (1590-1600)
Lord of Brescia (1591-1600)
Duke of Genoa (1592-1600)
Duke of Milan (1598-1600)
Duke Alfonso's early reign was marked by the War of Milanese Succession, born out of the extinction of the Valois's male branch, the claim being disputed between Infanta Isabella of Spain supported by her father and rallied by Count Farnese, her sister Duchess Catherine-Michelle of Savoy put forward by her ambitious husband and Queen Marguerite of Valois, put forward by the Romagnoli to legitimate their invasion of Milan. The Duke's main army would invade Milan and successively rout the timorous Savoyard offensive and the Spanish aligned Venetians before besieging the city itself while his brother Ercole would unsuccessfully besiege Genoa relieved by Spaniards. Although the Duke ultimately took Milan and captured Ottavio Farnese, he was threatened to be trapped and decided to try knocking Venice out before Spaniards made it out of Genoa by invading Venetian Terraferma, destroying the Venetian army on the banks of the Adige river before burning towns and cultures to effectively scare the Venitians. Just as he compelled Venice to peace, he hastily returned to Milan to face the Spaniards who withdrew to Genoa without even delivering battle. Aside of occasional troubles with Savoy which had entered in a truce, the War of Milanese Succession would amount to the Siege of Genoa of 1591-1592 and its capture, after which war would effectively end in northern Italy. It would not be until 1598 that Duke Alfonso would buy Queen Marguerite's and Infanta Isabella's claim to Milan in exchange for money compensations paid by Romagna, on loan from Florentine banks. Two years later, he would also buy a royal titulature from the Pope to unite his possesions of Romagna, Ferrara, Modena, Milan, Brescia, Genoa and Piombino into a Kingdom of Lombardy.
King of Lombardy (1600-1626)
As King of Lombardy, Alfonso I initiated a mercantilist agenda to improve his kingdom's prosperity. One of his more representative moves was his chartering of an East India Company, a joint Romagnolo-Florentine venture based at Genoa, thus reconnecting the city to its maritime mercantile past. But that venture was early on met by fierce competition from the Dutch and the English East India companies. On diplomatic front, he did nominally abide by the French alliance, settling in one instance the Montferrat and Mantuan successions in favor of the Gonzaga-Nevers House, but continued the shift begun with the War of Milanese Succession and took distance.

Cesare II (b.1590 _ d.1662)
King of Lombardy (1626-1662)
Second son to King Alfonso I, he wasn't much the soldier-king that his father, Dukes Cesare and Alessandro were. He was mostly raised in the court and if his military education was complete, it didn't serve much. King Cesare's political education was here of more impact in governing. His reign saw a continuation of his father's mercantilist policies. As a consequence, royal attention was more and more devoted to maritime affairs and the expansion of the merchant and war navies. Although he tried to play the middle ground between France and Spain, staying out of the Thirty Years War, he engaged into confrontation with the Dutch in East Indies, becoming a co-belligerent of Portugal. As the Neapolitan revolted against Spanish rule, he stayed passive, unwilling to decisively tip the power balance in Italy in favor of France, leaving time for the Spaniards to retake Naples before Lombardy changed mind. In matter of maritime warfare, he engaged in a more brutal war against the Barbary pirates, marked with the Lombard conquests of Algiers and the destruction of the Salé Republic. He also sent forces to help Venetian reconquest of Crete.
On the interior front, he had to quell an ultimate attempt of Genoa to recover independence early in his reign, but otherly, his realm remained at peace. Through Cesare's reign, the expansion of merchant class went along a power shift that put an end to the absolutist practices of the 16th century, Lombardy's government being built on a consensus between the King and the merchant class, not counting the power of banks of the Lombard aligned Florentine Republic.
