Giulio Antonio Acquaviva was born at
Atri, the son of Giosia Acquaviva, 6th Duke of Atri and Count of San Flaviano, and his wife Antonella Migliorati. He was a member of a patrician family of the
Kingdom of Naples with large estates in
Abruzzo, and held the titles of Duke of Atri, Count of San Flaviano and
Giulianova, Lord of Forcella, Roseto, Padula, and was the first Duke of Teramo. By his marriage with Caterina del Balzo
Orsini, his family obtained the title of counts of
Conversano, which they retained until the early nineteenth century. After the battle of San Flaviano (or Battle of Tordino) between Francesco Sforza and Niccolò Piccinino on 25 July 1460, San Flaviano was sacked by Matteo di Capua's soldiers the following year and reduced to rubble. Instead of restoring the city, in 1471 Giulio Antonio Acquaviva preferred to build a new one higher up near the ancient city:
Giulianova. It was an interesting example of a Renaissance ideal city, applying the theory of the most important architects of the time, as
Leon Battista Alberti and Francesco Di Giorgio Martini. In 1478, he commanded the fleet that supported the Neapolitan army of King Ferrante of Aragon, which had joined the coalition formed by
Pope Sixtus IV against the Republic of Florence. For having guided and advised the Duke of Calabria, son of the King, he was awarded the
Order of the Ermine. Moreover, with the privilege of the King of Naples on April 30, 1479, he received the honour of being able to add the name of Aragon to his surname and to add to the family coat of arms the insignia of the royal house. In 1479, he obtained from the Neapolitan king the surname "Acquaviva of Aragon". In 1480 he went to Apulia to fight the Turks, who had taken
Otranto and threatened Brindisi. During the campaign for the reconquest of Otranto in 1481, he lost his life in an ambush at Serrano. His body was beheaded, and his head was taken by the Turks and sent to Constantinople to the Sultan as a war trophy and never returned for any ransom. The body is buried, together with his wife, in the church of Santa Maria dell'Isola in Conversano, in a funeral monument by the Apulian sculptor Nuzzo Barba. Giulio Antonio died at
Minervino di Lecce, and was succeeded in Conversano by his son
Andrea Matteo. Another son was
Belisario Acquaviva. His latter day descendants include: Giulio Antonio Acquaviva (c 1808- 1836), Naples Italy, Príncipe Giuseppe Colonna Acquaviva (c 1835-1905), Naples Campania, Italy; Maria Acquaviva (c 1855- 1905) Naples, and Anna Maria Acquaviva di Lorenzo (c 1883- 1956), Naples Campania, Italy. ==Family==