Her marriage with Malatesta did not take place until 1456 ; but of the ardent affection that had long bound them together there are stronger proofs than the lover's juvenile verses, or than even the children Isotta had borne to him. For, more than all else, the temple of St. Francis has served to transmit to posterity the history of their loves. Mala testa decided to build this remarkable church as a thank-offer ing for his safety during a dangerous campaign undertaken for Pope Eugene IV. about the year 1445. The first stone was laid in 1446, and the work was carried on with such alacrity that mass was performed in it by the close of 145o. Sigismondo entrusted the execution of his plans to Leon Battista Alberti. The vault was never finished, and still shows its rough beams and rafters. The eight side chapels alone are complete, and their pointed arches spring from Renaissance pilasters planted on black marble ele phants, the Malatesta emblem, or on baskets of fruit held by chil dren. Everywhere—on the balustrades closing the chapels, round the base of the pilasters, along the walls, beneath the cornice of both the exterior and the interior of the church—there is one ornament that is perpetually repeated, the interwoven initials of Sigismondo and Isotta. This monogram is alternated with the por trait and arms of Malatesta ; and these designs are enwreathed by festoons linked together by the tyrant's second emblem, the rose. The most singular and characteristic feature of this edifice is the almost total absence of every sacred emblem. Rather than to St. Francis and the God of the Christians it was dedicated to the glorification of an unhallowed attachment. Nature, science, and antiquity were summoned to celebrate the tyrant's love for Isotta.
Sigismondo understood the science of fortification. He was also the first to discard the use of wooden bomb-shells and substitute others cast in bronze. As a soldier his numerous campaigns had shown him to be possessed of all the best qualities and worst de fects of the free captains of his time. He took part in many hazardous campaigns against adversaries such as the duke of Ur bino, Sforza of Milan, Piccinino, and, worst of all, the Sienese pope, Pius II., his declared and mortal foe. This time Sigismondo had blundered, and he was driven to make his submission to the pope, but, again rebelling, was summoned to trial in Rome (146o) before a tribunal of hostile cardinals. All the old charges against him were now revived and eagerly confirmed. He was pronounced guilty of rapine, incendiarism, incest, assassination, and heresy. Consequently he was sentenced to the deprivation of his state (which was probably the main object of the trial), and to be burnt alive as a heretic. This sentence, however, could not easily
be executed, and Sigismondo was only burnt in effigy. He could afford to laugh at this farce; nevertheless he prepared in great haste for a desperate defence (1462). He knew that the bishop Vitelleschi, together with the duke of Urbino, and his own brother, Novello Malatesta, lord of Cesena, were advancing against him in force; and, being defeated at Pian di Marotta, he was forced to go to Rome in 1463, again to make submission to the pope. This time he was stripped of all his possessions excepting the city of Rimini and a neighbouring castle, but the sentence of excom munication was withdrawn. In 1464 he took service with the Venetians, and had the command of an expedition to the Morea. In 1466 he was able to return to Rimini, for Pius II. was dead, and the new pope, Paul II., was less hostile to him. Indeed, the latter offered to give him Spoleto and Foligno, taking Rimini in exchange ; but Malatesta was so enraged by the proposal that he went to Rome with a dagger concealed on his person, to kill the pope. But, being forewarned, Paul received him with great ceremony and surrounded by cardinals prepared for defence; whereupon Sigismondo changed his mind, fell on his knees, and implored forgiveness. His star had now set forever. For sheer subsistence he had to hire his sword to the pope and quell petty re bellions with a handful of men. At last, his health failing, he re turned to his family, and died in Rimini on Oct. 7, 1468, aged 51 years.
He was succeeded, according to his de sire, by Isotta and his son Sallustio (who were ousted by an ille gitimate elder son by another mother, named Roberto Malatesta), and died in 1470 in suspicious circumstances. Roberto died in 1482; his son Pandolfo fled before Cesare Borgia in isoo. Rimini was captured by Pope Julius II. after his victory at Ravenna over the Venetians in 1512. Malatesta made more than one attempt to win back his city, but always in vain, for his subjects preferred papal rule; and in 1528 Pope Clement VII. became definite master of the town. The history of Rimini practically ends with its independence.
Memorie Storiche di Rimini e de' suoi signori, publicati con note di G. A. Zanetti (Bologna, 1789) ; Fossati, Li tempi di Malatesta di Rimini (Foligno,
; Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica (vol. lvii., s.v. "Rimini") ; Ch. Yriarte, Rimini: Un Condottiere au XV. Siècle: Etudes sur les let tres et les arts a la cour des Malatesta (1882) ; Tonini, Storia di Rimini (Rimini, 5848-62) ; E. Hutton, Sigismondo Malatesta (19°6).