SFORZA, LUDOVICO

born July 27, 1452, Vigevano, Pavia, duchy of Milan died May 27, 1508, Loches, Toubrenne, Fr. byname The Moor, Italian Il Moro Italian Renaissance regent (148094) and duke of Milan (149498), a ruthless prince and diplomatist and a patron of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists. Additional reading The personality of Ludovico Sforza is described with full particulars in F. Malaguzzi-Valeri, La corte di Lodovico il Moro, 4 vol. (191323; 2nd ed. of vol. 1 only, 1929; 4 vol. reprinted 1970); and compendiously in E. Verga, Storia della vita milanese (1909; 2nd ed. 1931). Concise biographies are: S.A. Nulli, Lodovico il Moro (1929); and P. Pieri, Ludovico il Moro, in Enciclopedia Italiana, vol. 21 (1934). Biographical information may also be found in the best works on the Sforza family: C. Santoro, Gli Sforza (1968), an excellent book with an exhaustive bibliography; L. Collison Morley, The Story of the Sforzas (1933); and G. Franciosi, Gli Sforza (1932). The politics of Ludovico Sforza and the Renaissance in Milan are dealt with in detail by various authors in Treccani's Storia di Milano, vol. 7 (1956) and vol. 8 (1957).