At the castle of Fondi, near the little town of Itri in the Neapolitan province of Terra di Lavoro, eight miles from the fortress of Gaeta, and overlooking the high road from Rome to Naples, was living, in strict retirement, a girl greatly beloved by the Cardinal.  Giulia Gonzaga, such was her name, was the attractive and clever daughter of Messer Vespasiano Colonna, whose brother, Cavaliere Stefano, had taken a prominent and honourable part in the defence of Florence during the memorable siege of 1529-1530.

Giulia was certainly only one of the many eligible maidens proposed at various times as a wife for the young ecclesiastic; but, in her case, the betrothal was all but effected, and with the approval of Pope Clement, whose conscience smote him when he saw that his handsome and gay young nephew was anything but disposed to observe the conventions of his Order.

Nevertheless, the lovers were parted, and Giulia was confined in the conventual fortress, and carefully guarded.  Pope Paul, it appears, did not relax the imprisonment of the unfortunate girl, as he surely ought to have done, in recognition of the Cardinal’s successful advocacy of his own advancement.

Naturally, poor Giulia pined and pined for her lover with whom, she was of course forbidden to correspond.  At length her health gave way, and she appealed to her father to obtain just one interview with Ippolito before she died.  Reluctantly permission was given by the Pope, and Ippolito, after the completion of his diplomatic duties in Naples, sought the neighbourhood of his innamorata; ostensibly upon the plea that his health needed the rest and change which the invigorating air of the Foresteria, a sanatorium at Itri, offered.

Among Giulia’s attendants was an old retainer of Alessandro de’ Medici, still devoted to his service, and mindful of youthful escapades together at the Vatican.  Him Alessandro persuaded, by means of a heavy bribe and the promise of efficient protection, to undertake the removal of Ippolito.  Whilst dallying with his former mistress, the Cardinal fell ill of malarial fever, common in the swampy plain of Garigliano, where he had gone shooting snipe.

Giovanni Andrea da Borgo San Sepolcro, the accomplice of his master, prepared some chicken broth, which he persuaded Ippolito to take.  In spite of its bitter taste he partook largely, but during the night he was attacked with immoderate sickness.  Before morning dawn the brilliant career of Ippolito, Cardinal de’ Medici, ended, and the harvest sun of 10th August 1535 rose upon his rigid corpse in Giulia’s chamber!

The poisoner fled to Florence, and was lodged safely in the Palazzo Medici, under the Duke’s special protection.  Alessandro received the news of Ippolito’s death with the utmost satisfaction.  “Now,” said he, “the vile wasp is crushed at last!” The dead body of his victim was buried hurriedly at Itri, but, by Pope Paul’s direction, it was exhumed and given honourable burial within the church of San Lorenzo-e-Damaso in Rome.  Paul lamented the tragedy which had removed his friend so cruelly, and he boldly accused Alessandro of having brought it about.