CHAPTER IV.
LUCRETIA'S EDUCATION The cardinal's relations with Vannozza continued until about 1482, for after the birth of Lucretia she presented him with another son, Giuffre, who was born in 1481 or 1482.
After that, Borgia's passion for this woman, who was now about forty, died out, but he continued to honor her as the mother of his children and as the confidant of many of his secrets.
Vannozza had borne her husband, a certain Giorgio di Croce, a son, who was named Octavian--at least this child passed as his.

With the cardinal's help she increased her revenues; in old official records she appears as the lessee of several taverns in Rome, and she also bought a vineyard and a country house near S.Lucia in Selci in the Subura, apparently from the Cesarini.

Even to-day the picturesque building with the arched passageway over the stairs which lead up from the Subura to S.Pietro in Vincoli is pointed out to travelers as the palace of Vannozza or of Lucretia Borgia.

Giorgio di Croce had become rich, and he built a chapel for himself and his family in S.Maria del Popolo.

Both he and his son Octavian died in the year 1486.[8] His death caused a change in Vannozza's circumstances, the cardinal hastening to marry the mother of his children a second time, so that she might have a protector and a respectable household.