Cesare d'Ávalos (16 July 1536 – 21 August 1614), Marquis of Padula, was a Neapolitan nobleman and military man in the service of the Hispanic Monarchy.
Biography He was the fifth child of Alfonso d'Avalos and Maria d'Aragona. Like his father, he started a military career for the Spanish Empire, now during the reign of Philip II. He was present in the Eighty Years' War, participating in the Battle of Jemmingen under the Duke of Alba.Commentaires de Bernardino de Mendoça sur les évènements de la guerre des Pays-Bas 1567-1577 en Collection De Mémoires Relatifs À L'histoire De Beligique, Issue 8, Sociéte de l'histoire de Belgique, Brussels, p. 141
Three years later he and his brother Carlo were part of the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire, serving under Don John of Austria. Carlo commanded the League's sailing ship squad failed to arrive in time to the Battle of Lepanto, but Cesare did and served with distinction.José María Gárate Córdoba, Los tercios de España en la ocasión de Lepanto, Servicio Histórico Militar, 1971 The following year he was present among the Spanish forces in the conquest of Tunis.Famiano Strada, Guerras de Flandes: Primera Decada, Deside La Muerte Del Emperador Carlos V. Hasta El Principo Del Govierno De Alexandro Farnese, Tercero Duque De Parma Y Placencia, Volumen 1, Marcos-Miguel Bousquet, 1749 He was later in the War of the Portuguese Succession, where Alba and Álvaro de Bazán, also a veteran of Lepanto, defeated the foreign coalition trying to prevent Philip II from inheriting the Portuguese Empire.
He was rewarded by being inducted into the Order of Alcántara, and later became great chancellor of the Kingdom of Naples, one of its seven highest posts.Revista Hidalguía número 83. Año 1967, p. 475Biagio Aldimari, Historia genealogica della famiglia Carafa, divisa in tre libri, volume 2, Giacomo Raillard, 1691 In 1603, he sold Buonabitacolo and Padula to Giovan Gerolamo de Ponte and built the palace later known as the Palace Carafa di Maddaloni. Portraits of him and his brothers Francesco and Giovanni were painted by Bernardino Campi, whom they were patrons of.Pietro Ebner, Chiesa, baroni e popolo nel Cilento, vol. 2, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1982, p. 249.
Issue On November 24 1577 he married Lucrezia del Tufo, daughter of Giovanni Girolamo del Tufo and Antonia Carafa, having two sons: Giovanni, who was appointed Prince of Montesarchio by Philip IV in 1628, and Innico, who inherited the marquisates of Pescara and Vasto after marrying his niece Isabella d'Ávalos.
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