Sforza was the great condottiere who, after the departure of the Visconti, ascended the throne of Milan as the first duke of his house.

While he was there establishing the ducal line of Sforza, his brother Alessandro became the founder of the ruling house of Pesaro.
This brave captain took possession of Pesaro in March, 1445; two years later he received the papal investiture of the fief.

He was married to Costanza Varano, one of the most beautiful and intellectual women of the Italian Renaissance.
To him she bore Costanzo and also a daughter, Battista, who later, as the wife of Federico of Urbino, won universal admiration by her virtues and talents.

The neighboring courts of Pesaro and Urbino were connected by marriage, and they vied with each other in fostering the arts and sciences.

Another illegitimate daughter of Alessandro's was Ginevra Sforza--a woman no less admired in her day--celebrated, first as the wife of Sante and then as that of Giovanni Bentivoglio, Lord of Bologna.
After the death of his wife, Alessandro Sforza married Sveva Montefeltre, a daughter of Guidantonio of Urbino.