ilanese nobles to spend the
day at this his favourite country house, and entertained the party at a
banquet in the famous terraced gardens on the banks of the Po. The same
evening Lodovico found time to write to his wife, in which he tells her
how much he is enjoying the loveliness of the summer evening at
Belriguardo.

"I would not for all the world have missed seeing this place. Really, I
do not think that I have ever seen so large and fine a house, or one
which is so well laid out and adorned with such excellent pictures. I do
not believe there is another to rival it in the whole world, and did not
think it possible to find a villa at once so spacious and so thoroughly
comfortable and well arranged. To say the truth, if I were asked whether
Vigevano, or the Castello of Pavia, or this place was the finest palace
in the world--the Castello must forgive me, for I would certainly choose
Belriguardo!"[39]

From Belriguardo, Ercole and his son-in-law proceeded to visit
Mirandola, the castle and principality of Bianca d'Este's husband, Count
Galeotto, and the court of the scholar princes of Carpi, who were
intimately connected with the Sanseverini and other noble Milanese
houses. After visiting Modena, the ducal party returned to receive the
Venetian ambassadors at Ferrara, and accompanied them to Belriguardo,
which Lodovico was not sorry to visit a second time. Here the Moro took
farewell of his hosts, and, leaving his infant son at Ferrara to await
his mother's return, he set out for Parma, on his way back to Milan.

Here at Torgiara, in the Parmesana, he was joined by his envoy, Count
Belgiojoso, who, in his anxiety to bring his master the latest news, had
ridden the whole 600 miles from Senlis in six days. This faithful
servant had already written to give Lodovico details of the treaty
concluded between Charles VIII. and Maximilian, and had informed him of
the French king's resolve to invade Italy without delay. Now, at his
master's summons, he rode to Parma as fast as relays of the fleetest
horses could take him, and fell seriously ill on the day after his
arrival. The news which he brought determined Lodovico in the policy
which he was about to adopt, and decided him to withdraw all opposition
to the French king's expedition against Naples. Charles VIII. now
appeared as the friend and ally of Maximilian, and even consented to
support Lodovico's suit with the King of the Romans. "It seems strange,"
wrote the Florent