On February 25, 2026, Il Ponte Casa d’Aste will present another extraordinary discovery following the Santini Codex: a manuscript that belonged to the dowry of Ippolita Maria Sforza (1445–1488).
A refined illuminated codex containing the transcription of the first decade of Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita, estimated at €280,000 to €350,000, resurfaces after centuries, offering a unique opportunity to highlight an important legacy of the Lombard Renaissance, as well as to commemorate and further explore a patron of great learning in the very year in which Milan celebrates its history, its greatness, and its drive toward the future.
A discovery of exceptional significance, considering that most of the volumes the princess brought with her from the Sforza Castle to Naples, on the occasion of her marriage to Alfonso II of Aragon in 1465, have been lost. Today, only three are known with certainty. Yet this manuscript emerges from the silence of time as a privileged witness to one of the most rich and refined princely libraries of the fifteenth century, offering precious documentation of the education and humanistic sensibilities of one of the most learned women of her era.
The young Sforza did not lack a comprehensive education, equal to that of her male siblings: she excelled in the art of falconry and studied Latin, French, Spanish, and the basics of Greek — an unusual educational path for the time. But Ippolita was above all a great bibliophile: cultured and passionate, she earned this reputation in a field that, even in the centuries to come, would remain almost exclusively male. For her, books were not mere luxury items or symbols of prestige, but living tools of knowledge, beauty, and reflection. From a young age, she commissioned illuminated manuscripts, guided as much by their content as by the art they contained, and even when she left for Naples, she wanted to bring with her, alongside jewelry and sumptuous clothing, numerous volumes: authentic testimonies to her passion and intellectual independence.
Alongside Bibles and devotional texts, her library included several classics of Latin literature, an important cultural and moral reference for a woman of the fifteenth century. The works of authors such as Titus Livius, an inexhaustible source of examples of virtue, diplomacy, and good governance, were particularly cherished at court: it is no coincidence that her volumes frequently appear in the inventories of books owned by Ippolita and Alfonso of Aragon.
The princess knew how to put her readings to good use: her subtlety of thought and diplomatic skills became evident in the delicate political balances between Milan and Naples, as well as in the complex events of the Pazzi Conspiracy. Thanks to her intelligence and ability to mediate, she earned the esteem of Lorenzo de’ Medici, with whom she forged both friendship and political collaboration. Acting as the Medici’s representative, she signed the Peace Treaty that ended the tensions following the conspiracy, cementing her reputation as a learned and authoritative woman.
Auction
25 February 2026 (3 PM CET)
26 February 2026 (10 AM and 3 PM CET)
Viewing
19, 20, 21 February 2026 (10 AM/1 PM - 2/6 PM CET)
Palazzo Crivelli, Via Pontaccio 12, Milan
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