Vittoria della Rovere (7 February 1622 – 5 March 1694) was Grand Duchess of Tuscany as the wife of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. She had four children with her husband, two of whom would survive infancy: the future Cosimo III, Tuscany's longest-reigning monarch, and Francesco Maria, a prince of the Church. At the death of her grandfather Francesco Maria della Rovere, she inherited the Duchies of Rovere and Montefeltro, which reverted to her second son, Francesco Maria, at her death. She was later entrusted with the care of her three grandchildren. Her marriage brought a wealth of treasures to the House of Medici, which can today be seen in the Palazzo Pitti and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Infancy
Vittoria della Rovere was the only child of Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, son of the then incumbent Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria. Her mother was Claudia de' Medici, a sister of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Duchess of Mantua. As an infant it was expected that she would inherit her grandfather's Duchy of Urbino, but Pope Urban VIII convinced Francesco Maria to resign it to the Papacy. The duchy was eventually annexed to the Papal States by Pope Urban VIII. Instead, she received the Rovere allodial possessions, the Duchies of Rovere and Montefeltro, and art collection which became her property in 1631 aged nine.
At the age of one, Vittoria was betrothed to her Medici first cousin Ferdinando II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Under the influence of her Medici mother, she was sent to Florence to be brought up at the Tuscan court. The marriage was arranged by the Grand Duke's grandmother, Christina of Lorraine, who had been acting as joint regent with her daughter-in-law Maria Maddalena of Austria since 1621. Despite Ferdinando II reaching his majority in 1628, Dowager Grand Duchess Christina remained the power behind the throne till her demise in 1636.
Grand Duchess of Tuscany
On 2 August 1634 she privately married Ferdinando, while the official public marriage was celebrated on 6 April 1637. Vittoria was crowned on the next 5 July. Her inheritance was included in her dowry which was offered to the Medici. These rich art collections of the family, now in the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti, thus became the property of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Brought up in the convent of Crocetta, Vittoria's education was a deeply religious one administered by the Dowager Grand Duchesses who had aligned Tuscany with the Papal States. Her education caused her to be ruled by priests in later life much to the annoyance of her liberal husband.
The marriage was consummated six years after the marriage ceremony and Vittoria gave birth to a son who died at the age of two days. Another son followed in 1640 but died at birth. Finally in 1642 the couple had another son named Cosimo de' Medici who was styled the Grand Prince of Tuscany. Under the influence of their mother, her children also received a deeply Roman Catholic education, and arguments between the Grand Ducal couple were sparked when there was a disagreement about the education of the Grand Prince. Shortly after the birth of Cosimo, the couple became estranged: Vittoria caught her husband and a page, Count Bruto della Molera, in bed together. The incident initially caused Vittoria to refuse to speak to her husband. When she decided to try to come to terms with him, however, he declined to be reconciled, and it was almost twenty years before their quarrel was properly made up. They briefly reconciled in 1659, which resulted in the birth of their last child, Prince Francesco Maria, in 1660. The estranged couple had, at best, an unhappy marriage, and lived separately by mutual agreement for many years.