Juan (Giovanni) Borgia

Giovanni de Candia Borgia, o Juan Borgia (Roma, 1474 – Roma, 1497), secondo duca di Gandia, duca di Sessa, era figlio del cardinale Rodrigo Borgia, il futuro papa Alessandro VI, e di Vannozza Cattanei e, dunque, fratello di Cesare Borgia. Fu Grande Constabile di Napoli, Gonfaloniere papale, Capitano generale e Governatore di san Pietro.

Giovanni fu padre di due figli, Juan Borja y Enriquez (pure noto come Giovanni Borgia de Candia, terzo Duca di Gandia), che fu a sua volta padre di Francesco Borgia, e Francisca (Isabella?) de Jesus Borja, che si fece suora in un convento di Valladolid.

Giovanni Borgia fu ucciso la notte del 14 giugno 1497 vicino all'attuale Piazza della Giudecca, in quello che divenne in seguito il Ghetto. Si disse addirittura che egli fosse stato eliminato dal fratello Cesare Borgia. In effetti l'omicidio – avvenuto in assenza di testimoni – apparve subito non riconducibile ad un furto in quanto il cadavere ritrovato nel Tevere portava ancora alla cintura una borsa contenente 30 ducati d'oro. Certamente la sua morte favorì il fratello minore Cesare, che fino ad allora era stato avviato dal padre verso la carriera ecclesiastica.

Un'altra ipotesi è che l'assassino fosse Antonio Pico della Mirandola, la cui casa era presso il Tevere, padre di una giovane e bella ragazza, ciò che spiegherebbe l'affermazione di Giovanni che aveva preannunciato che avrebbe passato la serata a divertirsi.

Giovanni Borgia was probably born in Rome to then-cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (later to become Pope Alexander VI), and his mistress, dei Cattanei, who was married to Domenico da Rignano. Giovanni married Maria Enriquez de Luna, the Spanish betrothed of his deceased older half-brother, Pedro Luis, in September 1493. He was made 2nd Duke of Gandia, Duke of Sessa, Grand Constable of Naples, Governor of St. Peter's, and Gonfalonier and Captain General of the Church.

Giovanni and Maria had three children: twins Juan de Borja y Enriquez (known as Juan Borgia), who became the 3rd Duke of Gandía, and Francisca de Jesus Borja, who became a nun at a convent in Valladolid. The younger Juan was the father of Saint Francis Borgia. Their third child, Isabel de Borja y Enriquez, was born after her father was killed. She grew up to be abbess of Santa Clara in Gandia.

He was murdered the night of 14 June 1497 near what later became the Piazza della Giudecca in the Ghetto of Rome. He was last seen alive when he was leaving from a feast that his mother had in his honor at her villa with his other siblings Cesare, Lucrezia, and Gioffre, Gioffre's wife Sancha of Aragon, their cousin Juan Borgia Lanzol, and Vannozza's husband, Carlo Canale, all in attendance. The next morning his horse came back without its rider and one of the stirrups was cut, and he was reported missing. A search party found his body in the Tiber with his throat slit, and about nine stab wounds on his torso. His grief-stricken father launched an intensive investigation into the murder, only to end it abruptly a week later. While the Orsini family had ample motive to kill Giovanni, it was later rumored that his own brother Cesare Borgia had him murdered.[citation needed] However, there is another rumor which says that his younger brother Gioffre Borgia murdered him due to Giovanni's relationship with Gioffre's wife, Sancha.[citation needed] His richly-attired body was recovered from the Tiber River with 30 golden ducats untouched in the purse at his belt. To the immense grief of the pope, this act occasioned the epigram by Sannazzaro on the pope as "fisher of men". Borgia's only attendant was also slain, so there were no known witnesses.