MALATESTA, FAMILY. - The oldest document of the M. concerns a purchase of property made in 1136 by a M. In 1197 GIANNI of M. and other blood relatives swore fidelity to the consuls of Rimini, and in 1216 they obtained citizenship from them.
In 1239 M. DA VERUCCHIO, head of the Guelph party, was podestà of Rimini, fought in vain by the Ghibellines. His son M. (the "Mastin vecchio" of Dante) was expelled from the city, but was able to return there in 1265.
In 1271 he defended the march of Ancona against Guido of Montefeltro, whom he defeated and took prisoner. His sons GIANCIOTTO (the one who in 1283 or 1284 killed his wife Francesca da Polenta and his brother Paolo) and MALATESTINO DALL'OCCIO (the "Mastin nuovo") gave him valuable aid in the struggle against the Ghibellines. M., who died in 1312, was succeeded by MALATESTINO (d. 1317), who held Rimini and gave Cesena to his nephew UBERTO, and Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia to his half-brother PANDOLFO. Malatestino was followed by Pandolfo (d. 1326) who, defeated and exiled by Cardinal Del Poggetto, returned to Rimini after the latter's defeat. He was, however, subsequently deprived of power by his cousins M. II and GALEOTTO. They reformed the statutes so as to consolidate the Signoria, but since they did so without consulting the Holy See, which claimed high sovereignty over their territories, a long war arose from this, until in 1343 the M. recognized themselves as vassals of the Church. M. II was succeeded by M. UNGARO and PANDOLFO, in 1364, together with their uncle GALEOTTO who survived them. PANDOLFO II (d. 1373) was the progenitor of the M. of Pesaro (to whom Parisina belonged); their domains passed in 1445 to the brother of Francesco Sforza, Alessandro. Galeotto was succeeded by PANDOLFO III (d. 1427), who served Gian Galeazzo Visconti as a condottiere, and by CARLO (d. 1429), who was governor of Milan at the death of the Visconti and rendered himself deserving of the unity of the Church during the schism, bringing to Constance the resignation of Gregory XII. At the death of Carlo the domains of the M. passed to the three sons of Pandolfo III: GALEOTTO ROBERTO, who died in 1432 in the odor of sanctity; DOMENICO, called M. NOVELLO, who favored men of letters and artists and founded the Malatestiana Library of Cesena (at his death Cesena was devolved to the Church); SIGISATONDO PANDOLFO (b. 1417, d. 1468), a typical figure of the Renaissance, enthusiastic about classical culture and the arts (he had the Tempio Malatestiano of Rimini built), a valiant warrior, but of dissolute morals and in repute for disloyalty and ferocity. He conquered many lands, but in the war against Pius II he succeeded in keeping only Rimini. When he died, the domain was to return to the Church, but an illegitimate son of his, ROBERTO, seized Rimini by a trick, and supported by the League of Milan, Florence and Naples, defended it against Paul II. Having then become a condottiere of the Church, in 1482 he defeated Alfonso of Aragon at Campomorto. He died in the same year, and Sixtus IV invested his son PANDOLFO IV with Rimini, but the latter could not maintain the Signoria for long, for it was first taken from him by Cesare Borgia, and then he had to cede it to Venice.