Margaret of Austria

Margherita, also known as "the rebellious madame", wife of Alessandro de' Medici first, and then of Ottavio Farnese, was an enlightened regent of the towns of Abruzzo, leaving traces of her work everywhere: Leonessa, Cittaducale, Ortona, L'Aquila were only some of the countries she administered with wisdom and foresight, boosting the local economy and culture and resolving territorial issues.

He gathered around him the most famous intellectuals of the time, revitalizing the arts and renewing the urban heritage of the cities. In the palaces of Ortona and L'Aquila alone he owned more than two hundred tapestries, and then silver, cameos, rock crystals, precious stones, tiaras and jewels in large numbers. From Abruzzo she moved to Florence for marital reasons, where she resided at the Medici court for a year before becoming a widow and moving to Rome, leaving traces of her passage there too: Palazzo Madama in Rome, now the seat of the Senate, was her residence in the Roman period, built for her after her husband's death; the same goes for Villa Madama, the "Farnesina", today the seat of representation of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic.