Catherine Salvaresso

Catherine Salvaresso, or Ecaterina Salvaresso (died 1590 in Tripoli) was a princess consort of Wallachia. She was married to Alexandru II Mircea and was the mother of Mihnea Turcitul. She was the regent of Wallachia during the minority of her son from 1577 until 1583.

Salvaresso was from a Catholic Italian family and a resident of the Italian quarter in Constantinople, where she met Alexandru II Mircea during his pilgrimage. They married in Pera in 1558, and she converted to the Orthodox faith. She founded the convent Slătioarele and imported to first printing press in Bucharest in 1573. In 1577, her spouse died and she became the regent of her son, who was at that time a hostage of the Ottomans.

Sources

• Ileana Cazan, Eugen Denize: Marile puteri și spațiul românesc în secolele XV-XVI, Editura Universității din București, 2001
• Gh.T. Ionescu: Nou despre doamna Ecaterina Salvaresso a Țării Românești, în Istros, VII, Brăila, 1994, p.189-199.