rch, which ended in the Palazzo della Ragione.
They are still connected, although the locality has greatly changed.

The duke's palace was opposite the church. It had a large court with a
marble stairway, and was therefore called the Palazzo del Cortile. This
court is doubtless the one now known as the Cortile Ducale. It was
entered from the Piazza through a high archway, at the sides of which
were columns which formerly supported statues of Niccolo III and Borso.
The writers who describe Lucretia's entrance into the city say that she
dismounted from her horse at the steps of the marble court (a le scale
del Cortile di Marmo).

Here she was received by the Marchioness Gonzaga and numerous other
prominent ladies. Alfonso's young wife must have smiled--if in the
excitement of the moment she noticed it--when she found that the noble
house of Este had selected such a large number of their bastard
daughters to welcome her. She was greeted at the stairway by Lucretia,
Ercole's natural daughter, wife of Annibale Bentivoglio, and three
illegitimate daughters of Sigismondo d'Este--Lucretia, Countess of
Carrara; the beautiful Diana, Countess of Uguzoni; and Bianca
Sanseverino.[160]

It was night, and lights and torches illuminated the palace. To the
sound of music the young couple was conducted to the reception hall,
where they took their places on a throne. Here followed the formal
introduction of the court officials, and an orator delivered a speech
apparently based upon the information which the duke had instructed his
ambassadors to secure regarding the house of Borgia. It is not known who
was the fortunate orator, but we are familiar with the names of some of
the poets who addressed epithalamia to the beautiful princess. Nicolaus
Marius Paniciatus composed a number of spirituelle Latin poems and
epigrams in honor of Lucretia, Alfonso, and Ercole, which were collected
under the title of "Borgias." Among them are some ardent wishes for the
prosperity of the young couple. Lucretia's beauty is described as
excelling that of Helen because it was accompanied by incomparable
modesty.[161]

Apparently this youthful poet did not have his stanzas printed, for they
exist only in a manuscript in the library of Ferrara. Before Lucretia's
entry the printer Laurentius published an epithalamium by a young
Latinist, the celebrated Celio Calcagnini, who subsequently became
famous as a mathematician. He was a favorite of Cardinal Ippolito,