Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Italian son of Galeazzo II Visconti (born 1351)

Gian Galeazzo Visconti, was the first duke of Milan (1395) and ruled that late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He also ruled Lombardy jointly with his uncle Bernabò. He was the founding patron of the Certosa di Pavia, completing the Visconti Castle at Pavia begun by his father and furthering work on the Duomo of Milan. He captured a large territory of northern Italy and the Po valley. He threatened war with France in relation to the transfer of Genoa to French control as well as issues with his beloved daughter Valentina. When he died of fever in the Castello of Melegnano, his children fought with each other and fragmented the territories that he had ruled.

Galeazzo II Visconti was a member of the Visconti dynasty and a ruler of Milan, Italy. His most notable military campaigns were against Pope Gregory XI, around 1367. These battles fought between the papacy and the Visconti family ultimately ended in a peace treaty. Politically active, he expanded the power of his family, where the Visconti first became hereditary rulers of Milan starting in 1349. He is remembered in conjunction with his patronage of intellectuals and writers, from his sponsorship of Petrarch to the founding of the University of Pavia in 1361. Galeazzo II Visconti, and his brother Bernabò, are credited with the institution of the Quaresima Torture Protocol, a vicious means of torture.