Sister of Federico da Montefeltro, in 1448 she married Alessandro Sforza, lord of Urbino. During her husband’s frequent absences—he was a collaborator in the military campaigns of her brother Lodovico il Moro—she ably shouldered the responsibility of governing. In 1457, Alessandro, to conceal his own infidelities, falsely accused her of the same crime and forced her to take refuge in the local Clarissan monastery. Two years later she took the habit, changing her baptismal name Sveva to Serafina. As abbess, she set an example of strict observance, piety, and charity toward the sick. Her cult was approved by Benedict XIV on 17 July 1754. Feast: 8 September.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Septembris, III. Antwerp 1750, pp. 312-25; G. Feliciani, Sulla monacazione di Sveva Montefeltro S., signora di Pesaro, Ricerche, Pistoia 1903 (cf. F. van Ortroy, recens. in Anal. Boll., 24 (1903), pp. 311-13); C. Ortolani, Santità francescano-picena, Pesaro 1931, p. 191 ff. Piero Sannazzaro