text: At the death of Giorgio Ordelaffi, lord of Forlì, he took advantage of his guardianship of the boy heir, Tebaldo Ordelaffi, to attempt conquests in Romagna (1423), provoking war with Florence, which could not permit his ambitions to go uncontested. Venice, urged on by Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola, decided to intervene on the side of Florence (1425) and the war spread to Lombardy. In March 1426 Carmagnola fomented riots in Brescia, which he had conquered for Visconti just five years previously. After a long campaign, Venice conquered Brescia, extending its mainland possessions to the western shores of Lake Garda. Filippo Maria unsuccessfully sought imperial aid but was constrained to accept the peace proposed by Pope Martin V, favouring Venice and Carmagnola. The terms were grudgingly accepted in Milan and by the emperor; but hostilities were resumed at the first pretext by Filippo Maria, leading to the defeat of Maclodio (12 October 1427), followed by a more lasting peace signed at Ferrara with the mediation of Niccolò III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara.
  The following year the duke married his second wife Marie of Savoy, Duchess of Milan, daughter of Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy, a potent ally. With Visconti's support, Amadeus reigned briefly as antipope Felix V from November 1439 to April 1449.
  He invited the famous scholar Gasparino Barzizza to establish a school in Milan. Barzizza would also serve as his court orator.
  He died in 1447, the last of the Visconti in direct male line, and he was succeeded in the duchy, after the short-lived Ambrosian republic, by Francesco Sforza (1401–1466). In 1441, Francesco married Filippo Maria's only heir, his natural daughter Bianca Maria (1425–1468) by his mistress Agnese del Maino (1401–1465).
  Art
  The oldest extant Tarot decks, then called carte da trionfi, were probably commissioned by Filippo Maria Visconti.