Pier Luigi Farnese (19 November 1503 – 10 September 1547) was the first Duke of Castro from 1537 to 1545 and the first Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1545 to 1547. Born in Rome, Pier Luigi was the illegitimate son of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (who later became Pope Paul III). He became a soldier and participated in the sack of Rome in 1527. Youth Pier Luigi Alessandro Farnese was born in 1503 from the union between Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (future Pope Paul III) and probably Silvia Ruffini - a Roman noblewoman who also gave birth with Alessandro to three other children: Costanza, Paolo and Ranuccio. In July 1505, Pope Julius II legitimated Pier Luigi so that he could inherit the Farnese family estates. On 23 June, 1513, Pope Leo X published a second legitimation of Pier Luigi. In spite of the legitimations, his illegitimacy tormented Pier Luigi all his life, and doubtless contributed to the formation of his character. The nobility of Piacenza was frequently known to insult him as "the bastard son of the Pope." He was given a famous humanist tutor, Baldassarre Malosso di Casalmaggiore, nicknamed "Tranquillus," and quickly developed a love of war and fortifications. His father was, however, keen to make Pier Luigi the true head of the Farnese family and so arranged a favourable marriage alliance with Gerolama (also known by the spelling Girolama) Orsini, daughter of Lodovico, Count of Pitigliano. In 1513 the engagement contract was drawn up, and in 1519 the wedding celebrated. Despite a loveless marriage, Gerolama remained a faithful devoted wife, tolerating Pier Luigi's excesses, brutality, and extravagances with dignity. Delays in the construction at the palace in Gradoli, meant the young couple had to lodge in the Castle at Valentano. The following year their first son Alessandro was born. Military career Pier Luigi Farnese quickly became the stereotype of a mercenary soldier: wild and amoral. He had courage and daring and while strong and audacious was also sufficiently brutal to offend many observers. Nor did he always fight on the traditional side of the papacy; reversing the pro-Guelph sentiments of the Farnese. In 1520, at the age of seventeen, he and his brother Ranuccio were already employed as mercenaries in the pay of the Republic of Venice. As a result, he served under the standard of Charles V — remaining with the emperor until 1527, he was present at