A remarkable Renaissance manuscript has re-emerged after centuries of obscurity. At an auction in Milan dedicated to rare books, a 15th-century illuminated manuscript of the First Decade of Ab Urbe Condita by Livy was sold for €537,000 (approximately $633,000). The volume once belonged to Princess Ippolita Maria Sforza, though the buyer’s identity has not been disclosed.
Produced on parchment in the 1400s, the manuscript is an exceptionally rare survival and a valuable fragment of the personal library of one of the most educated women of the Italian Renaissance. Raised at the Sforza court in Milan, Ippolita received a comprehensive humanist education that included Latin, modern languages, classical literature, and rudimentary Greek, an education comparable to that of her male siblings.
In 1465, when she left Milan to marry Alfonso II of Aragon and move to Naples, Ippolita brought with her a refined and carefully curated collection of books. Livy’s histories, which offered models of civic virtue and good governance, held a central place in her library and in that of her husband.
These texts were not merely intellectual exercises. In Naples, Ippolita proved herself a skilled political actor, navigating the delicate balance of power between Milan and the Aragonese kingdom with intelligence and foresight during one of the most complex periods of 15th-century Italian history.