Sixtus V.was proclaimed on April 24, 1585.

In this interval Vittoria underwent a series of extraordinary perils and adventures.

First of all, she had been secretly married to the Duke in his gardens of Magnanapoli at the end of April 1581.

That is to say, Marcello and she secured their prize, as well as they were able, the moment after Francesco had been removed by murder.

But no sooner had the marriage become known, than the Pope, moved by the scandal it created, no less than by the urgent instance of the Orsini and Medici, declared it void.