to uphold the power of the Riario family. As a result of the massacre which followed the assassination of Giacomo Feo, Caterina lost, forever, the good will of her people. Third marriage In 1496, the ambassador of the Republic of Florence, Giovanni de' Medici il Popolano, paid a visit to Caterina. The second son of Pierfrancesco il Vecchio, he belonged to a collateral branch of the Medici family. Along with his older brother Lorenzo, he had been sent into exile because of his open hostility toward their cousin Piero, who succeeded his father Lorenzo il Magnifico in the government of Florence. In 1494, when Charles VIII invaded Italy, Piero was forced to sign a treaty which allowed the French army to move freely into the Kingdom of Naples. The people of Florence were liberated, deposed Piero and proclaimed a Republic. Giovanni and his brother were able to return to their homeland. They renounced the Medici surname and took the name of "Popolano". The Florentine government appointed Giovanni as ambassador to Forlì. Shortly after coming to Forlì, Giovanni and his entourage were housed in the apartments adjacent to Caterina's in the fortress of Ravaldino. The rumours of a possible marriage between Giovanni and Caterina and that Ottaviano Riario had accepted the post of Condottiero from Florence threatened the Venetians, and alarmed the lords of the League and the Duke of Milan. Caterina could not hide her wedding plans and her own feelings from her uncle Ludovico; she truly fell in love with the handsome, charming, and intelligent Giovanni. The situation differed from the previous one as this time Caterina had the approval of her children and she also obtained the consent of her uncle. The marriage of two people from such powerful families, however, was likely to arouse opposition, so they were wed in secret in September 1497. In April 1498, Caterina bore Giovanni a son, the last of her children. The child was baptised as Ludovico after his mother's uncle, the Duke of Milan, but later he became known by the name Giovanni delle Bande Nere. Meanwhile, affairs between Florence and Venice were getting worse and Caterina, who occupied the main route between the two cities, prepared her defenses. She sent a contingent of knights to the aid of Florence, led by Giovanni and her eldest son, Ottaviano Riario, accompanied by men she had trained herself. Giovanni became seriously ill