Bartolomeo d'Alviano

"Ezio Auditore! Come in, come in! I'll kill you if you don't."

- Bartolomeo, upon meeting Ezio in Rome.

Bartolomeo d'Alviano (1455 – 1515) was an Assassin and Italian condottiero (mercenary leader).

Early life
Bartolomeo was born in the town of Alviano, and was the son of Francesco d'Alviano and Isabella degli Atti. His cousin is Fabio Orsini.

Bartolomeo somehow found his way into the Assassin Order and positioned himself in the Castello district of Venice.

Retaking the Castello district
By 1486, the Templar Silvio Barbarigo had taken control over the Castello district, and had captured most of Bartolomeo's men, including Bartolomeo himself. Luckily for him, Ezio Auditore, the son of the late Assassin Giovanni Auditore, came to his rescue and the two fought their way back to Bartolomeo's headquarters.

After Bartolomeo found his precious sword "Bianca," he asked Ezio to rescue some of his men who had been captured by Silvio's. Ezio successfully rescued each of the mercenaries and, upon returning to Bartolomeo, was instructed by the latter to position some of the men throughout the district, in order to regain the lost territory. Bartolomeo explained that these men would stir up trouble once Ezio launched the signal, forcing Silvio to dispatch most of his guards, and in turn leave himself vulnerable. Ezio killed several guards on the marked locations and positioned the mercenaries there.

Bartolomeo gave Ezio some fireworks upon his arrival, to be used to signal the attack. Ezio climbed the highest viewpoint and launched the fireworks, after which Bartolomeo and his men fought against Dante Moro and some other guards. Ezio rushed to Bartolomeo's aid, and Dante fled to l'Arsenale. Bartolomeo and Ezio killed two brutes and followed Dante to the shipping port, where Ezio almost defeated Dante; though he escaped into l'Arsenale to run towards a docked ship with Silvio. The two of them were assassinated by Ezio before they could set sail on the ship, however. Bartolomeo thanked and congratulated Ezio on liberating the Castello district from Silvio's oppression, and the two parted ways.

Acquiring the Apple of Eden
Two years later, Bartolomeo met with some of the other Assassins, those who had been guiding Ezio Auditore over the past 12 years, to acquire the "Apple of Eden" from Rodrigo Borgia, the Grand Master of the Templar Order. However, when they reached Rodrigo's location, they found Ezio already fighting Rodrigo and his guards, and thus the Assassins rushed to his aid. After killing all the guards and severely wounding Rodrigo, the group all revealed themselves to be Assassins, which was previously unknown by Ezio. They then inducted Ezio into the order atop a tall tower and all performed a Leap of Faith into a haystack.

Battle against Pope Alexander VI
In 1496, Bartolomeo joined the Orsini in a battle against the Borgia, who were attempting to seize Orsini territory.

Bartolomeo's resources were cut down to three fortresses by the Borgia, but Bartolomeo's fighting spirit kept him going. Cesare Borgia completely cut off his supplies when he thought victory was near, but Carlo Orsini arrived just in time to support Bartolomeo, even wounding Cesare in the face.

Fighting the French
"Cesare persuaded King Louis to lend him an entire army to defeat me. I'm flattered."

- Bartolomeo d'Alviano, regarding his fight with the French, 1503. In 1500, Bartolomeo and his new wife, Pantasilea Baglioni, moved to Rome, and used the Caserma di Alviano as barracks. Alongside the other Assassins, he sought to liberate the city from Borgia and Templar rule and thus focused his mercenaries on the French army, led by Octavian de Valois. However, he soon found himself attacked on two sides; Borgia on one side, French on the other. The same year, Bartolomeo met again with Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who helped Bartolomeo liberate the surrounding region of his house from Borgia control. In exchange, Ezio requested that Bartolomeo would find the whereabouts of Rodrigo and Cesare Borgia. After having done so, Bartolomeo met with the others at Tiber Island to discuss their war plans.

Three years later, Bartolomeo was still at war with Octavian de Valois. When Ezio met with him again to take care of Valois, he discovered that his wife was kidnapped by Valois. After being attacked by the French and succesfully fending off the attack, Valois arrived at the barracks to request Bartolomeo's surrender in exchange for his wife. Bartolomeo and Ezio followed Valois to the French camp, the Castra Praetoria, but they concluded that there was no way into it. They returned to the barracks, where Ezio explained his plan to disguise Bartolome's mercenaries as French soldiers and have them pretend to have captured Bartolomeo. Ezio retrieved some suits from French guards and Bartolomeo disguised his men with these. Ezio, disguised as a French captain, cleared the way for the battalion all the way to the French camp and had them enter it with ease. When they met with Valois, Bartolomeo started to threaten the former, who was about to kill Pantasilea as a result. Acting swiftly, Ezio fired his hidden gun to cause confusion among the French guards, which made Valois flee deeper into the camp with Pantasilea. Ezio followed him and killed him while being undetected. Bartolomeo was reunited with Pantasilea again and returned to the barracks.

Later that year, Bartolomeo met with the other Assassins to fight the last of Cesare Borgia's followers. After these were killed, they witnessed Cesare being arrested by Bartolomeo's cousin Fabio Orsini and returned to their respective bases.

Under Ferdinand II and Nicolò Orsini
In 1503, hired by Ferdinand II of Spain, Bartolomeo was determinant in the victory at the Battle of Garigliano over the French army, which started the Spanish domination over southern Italy. In 1507, together with Nicolò Orsini, Bartolomeo was rehired by the Republic of Venice. The following year, he defeated the Imperial Army of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in Cadore, at Mauria and Pontebba, conquering Gorizia and Trieste. In the same year, Pordenone also fell, and the Serenissima assigned its seignory to Alviano himself.

Battle of Agnadello
In 1509, he fought in the Battle of Agnadello. He allegedly attacked the enemy without the authorization of the Orsini, then commander-in-chief. He was wounded as a result, but managed to recover and rally his troops. He won the hearts of the citizens of Agnadello, where the Shroud of Eden was located, and they in turn helped Bartolomeo and his men in getting resources.

However, he was still captured by the French; Louis XII placed Bartolomeo in jail. In 1513, after the alliance between France and Venice against the Duchy of Milan, he was freed and later fought under the French commander Louis de la Trémoille. He was defeated at Vicenza by the Spanish viceroy of Naples, Ramón de Cardona.

Later life
Later, Bartolomeo conquered and sacked Pordenone, which in the meantime had fallen again to the House of Habsburg. He was subsequently a protagonist of the French victory at Marignano (September 1515), in which he attacked the Swiss mercenary with a corps of only 300 knights. Later, he also managed to conquer Bergamo, but died in October of the same year while besieging Brescia.

Venice welcomed his body home with a grand ceremony, and he was buried in the church of Santo Stefano in Venice.

Personality
"He has such an aggressive view of the world."

- Pantasilea regarding Bartolomeo's personality

Bartolomeo has an aggressive personality, often disregarding strategy in favour of brute strength. This is clearly shown as when Ezio Auditore first rescued him, he would often remark that Ezio's tactic of avoiding combat was not manly. He too like Mario Auditore prefered open combat, rather than the Assassin's tactic of "sneaking and stabbing". He is a proud man, this is made evident when he told Ezio Auditore the he was coping well against the French assault when in truth, he was fighting a losing war. It is clear that Bartolomeo is not educated as when Ezio suggested rennovating the Barracks, he said "I'm no good with these things, you are the educated one. You approve the plans". Bartolomeo holds honor in high regaed and was very upset when the Baron de Valois chose the tactic of taking his wife, Pantasilea, hostage to secure victory

Fighting style
Bartolomeo is a versitile fighter, able to attack with a long sword as well a a heavy weapon, although he prefers the latter. When Ezio Auditore first saved him from the Castello district, Bartolomeo proved his versitility in fighting by using any weapon he could find, even a broom. His favorite weapon is a heavy weapon, fondly named 'Bianca' which greatly resembles a Scottish Claymore. It has been hinted that he also uses a bearded axe in combat as when Ezio completes all the Mercinary guild quests, he recieves a weapon called Bartolomeo's Axe, which is the same as a bearded axe.

Trivia

 * Bartolomeo owned a large sword resembling a Hand and a half sword, also known as the Bastard sword, which he called "Bianca," the Italian word for "white." In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Bianca has changed in appearance slightly, having a gold guard and also missing an emblem. He was shown to be very protective of the sword, treating it like his own child.
 * His sword "Bianca" is also an exclusive item for Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, which is unlockable for 15 Uplay points, that gives more chance of winning in Skirmish.
 * It has been stated in an interview that you can acquire his sword by completing a mission for the mercenaries in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. However, this statement is inaccurate, as you instead recieve an axe named "Bartolomeo's Axe." His sword, Bianca, is actually just a standard Bastard Sword that can be bought from blacksmiths or taken from Brutes.
 * In the battle where Ezio fights alongside Claudia, Bartolomeo, Niccolo Machiavelli and La Volpe against the Borgia, Bartolomeo can be "killed," but he will only appear knocked out, as if he lost in a fist fight.
 * Bartolomeo's memories are relived in the first chapter of the Italian Wars sequence in Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy.