Giulio I Cybo-Malaspina

Who was Giulio I Cybo-Malaspina?

Giulio I Cybo-Malaspina was an Italian nobleman, who was marquis of Massa and lord of Carrara from 1546 until 1547.

Born in Rome, he was the son of Ricciarda Malaspina and Lorenzo Cybo. His mother was the heir of the state of Massa and Carrara, which Giulio bought from her when he came of age in 1546.

As he was actually without money, Giulio asked a grant from his wife's powerful relative, the Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, then at the service of Emperor and King of Spain Charles V. After Doria refused, Giulio set a plot against him together with Ottobono Fieschi and other Genoese refugees, also backed by the Strozzi family of Florence and Pope Paul III.

However, the plot was discovered and Giulio was arrested at Pontremoli. Despite an attempt to save him from his cousin Cosimo I of Tuscany, he was beheaded in Milan. His body was buried in the Cathedral of Massa. At his mother's death in 1553, the states of Massa and Carrara were ultimately inherited by his brother Alberico I Cybo-Malaspina, Prince of Massa.