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4 unusual facts about House of Gonzaga


House of Gonzaga

The Gonzaga were a noble family that ruled Mantua in Northern Italy from 1328 to 1708; they also ruled Monferrato in Piedmont and Nevers in France, and also many other lesser fiefs in Italy and Europe.

A cadet branch of the Mantua Gonzagas became Dukes of Nevers and Rethel in France when Luigi (Louis) di Gonzaga, a younger son of Duke Federico II and Margherita Paleologa, married the heiress.

Sebastiano Guala

Sebastiano Guala was an Italian church architect active between 1640–1680 in the area of Casale Monferrato, then capital of the Gonzaga-ruled state of Montferrat.

The Maid of Honour

Frederick and his forces have taken Siena, but now face a vigorous counterattack, led by the general Gonzaga, a member of the Knights of Malta.


Faà di Bruno

Camilla Faà di Bruno, (c.1599–1662), a society beauty who was married secretly, briefly and morganatically to Ferdinando I the Gonzaga Duke of Mantua and Monferrato; her memoirs have been described as the first prose autobiography written by an Italian woman.

Guastalla

Of Lombard origin, the city was ruled by the Torelli family from 1406 to 1539, when it became the capital of a duchy under the Gonzaga family and housed artists like Guercino and Torquato Tasso.

Margherita Farnese

On 2 March 1581 she married Vincenzo Gonzaga, the future duke of Mantua, probably with the political aim of creating an anti-Florentine alliance between the Gonzaga and Farnese families, after their long feud since 1547, when Ferrante Gonzaga had organised a plot against Pier Luigi Farnese first duke of Parma and Piacenza.


see also