Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandía (1476–1497) was the second born and the second son of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza Cattanei and a member of the House of Borgia. He was the brother of Cesare, Gioffre, and Lucrezia Borgia. He was murdered on 14 June 1497. Even today, it is not known with certainty who was responsible for his death, although many at the time blamed his brother Cesare. Early life, marriage, and family Giovanni Borgia was probably born in Rome in 1476 to then-cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (later to become Pope Alexander VI), and his mistress, Vannozza dei Cattanei, who was married to Domenico da Rignano. He was the second son of the couple, after the firstborn Cesare. In September 1493, Giovanni married Maria Enriquez de Luna, the Spanish betrothed of his deceased older half-brother, Pier Luigi de Borgia, 1st duke of Gandía. He succeeded his brother as 2nd Duke of Gandía, and was made Duke of Sessa, Grand Constable of Naples, Governor of St. Peter's, and Gonfalonier and Captain General of the Church. Giovanni and Maria had two children, a son and a daughter. The firstborn was Juan de Borja y Enríquez, 3rd Duke of Gandía (father of Saint Francis Borgia, who was also 4th Duke of Gandía). Their daughter, Isabel de Borja y Enríquez, was born in 1496 in Gandia and never knew her father, who was killed in June 1497 at Rome; she grew up to be abbess of Santa Clara in Gandía. Murder Borgia was murdered on the night of 14 June 1497 near what later became the Piazza della Giudecca in the ghetto of Rome. Giovanni was last seen alive when he was leaving a feast that his mother had arranged in his honour at her villa near the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli with his other siblings Cesare, Lucrezia, and Gioffre; Gioffre's wife Sancha of Aragon, their cousin Juan Borgia Lanzol, and Vannozza's husband, Carlo Canale, were all in attendance. Later Giovanni and his brother rode to the Papal Palace; at the Palace of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza where the Duke told his brother he was going to visit his mistress; Giovanni dismissed his retainers. He took only his valet and a masked man whose identity is unknown but who had been noticed visiting Giovanni several times in the month before his death. Giovanni rode as far as the ghetto where he ordered