The restorer of the legendary Golden Age for his many followers and Christianity's worst enemy according to the Popes forced to deal with him, Federick Il of Svevia was much more than this: he was an intriguing politician and patron of the arts, the leader and idol of the people of Southern Italy.
In 1228 he was called upon by the Pope to besiege Rocca Respampani (near Monte Romano), at the time the centre of strategic and complex battles for the possession of the area between Viterbo, Rome and the Papal State.

Life
Federico (Frederick) Ruggero was born on 26th December 1194 in Jesi, son of Henry VI Hohenstaufen, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (son of Frederick Barbarossa) and Costanza (daughter of Ruggero II d'Altavilla, Norman King of Sicily). Federico was destined to become King of Southern Italy, but his father died in 1197, followed by his mother in 1198 and so Federico, just four years old, was crowned King of Sicily, Duke of Apulia and Prince of Capua and placed under the protection of Pope Innocent III.

Federico managed to restore the Empire, thus creating Italy's first central state, curtailing the Church's temporal power and astounding the world with his tactical ability. He was crowned Emperor in Rome in 1220 by Pope Honorius III.

Federico wanted to vindicate all the kings who had been usurped in Southern Italy over the past thirty years, at the same time introducing some unusually advanced economic measures, encouraging trade and guaranteeing safety on the roads. In fact, in 1224, he set up the Western world's first state university, plus he fought strenuously against the phenomenon of usury, rife in Bari and Naples.

He died in Castello di Fiorentino on 13th December 1250.