Resumen de Perdere l’onore Ambrogio Spinola, il ritorno in Italia, Casale e il tramonto della Pax hispánica, 1627-1630
The purpose of this essay is to analyse the last two years of Ambrogio Spinola’s life, showing how the great Genoese general, one of the most influential figures in the political and military of the seventeenth century, became a purged and marginalized figure in this complex phase of the war in Italy. Based on numerous first-hand accounts, the story of the siege of Casale is analyzed through a historical, and psychological investigation of the protagonists of this story: the aim is to show how personal frictions, antipathies, jealousies and differences in character played a remarkable role in the political decisions. The result is a very complex picture of a story where friends become enemies and enemies are much more reliable and respectful than friends, where Ambrogio Spinola, falling into a deadly trap, becomes the scapegoat for the political defeat of the Duke of Olivares and Spain. The tragic and unfortunate end of the Marquis de Los Balbases determined a change in the historians’ historiographical perception of a character who became a myth in life and was forgotten after his death. Moreover, the negative image built in the nineteenth century by Alessandro Manzoni in his famous novel I Promessi sposi contributed to it.
