Duke Vespasiano I Gonzaga-Colonna (1531-1591)
Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna (1531–1591), Duke of Sabbioneta "La piccola Atene" - Italy
Vespasiano wanted Sabbioneta to be a strategic town, so he hired the greatest architects, making his court the heart of the Renaissance.
The Tragic Duke
Vespasiano Gonzaga, who was born in 1531 in Italy but educated and married in Spain. He returned with a vision of creating an ideal place where artists, painters, scientists and writers could live in harmony with the perfect patron.
After having initiated the project, Vespasiano was called away to war, and when he returned, he found that his wife had been unfaithful. Some say he killed her lover and locked her up in a room with the corpse where she was served a glass of poisoned wine a day with the word ‘bevi !’.
After three days she drank from the cup and died.
More tragedies ensued. The duke kicked his only son by a second wife for disobedience, causing an injury that led to the boy’s death.
And at the age of sixty he was suffering from some neurological disease, and to cure him doctors drilled a hole in his skull. After the trepanation he woke up one morning, sat up in bed, and said ‘I am cured’, before he fell back and died.
The ducal palace in Sabbioneta is still standing, but you have to know the story beforehand to see the drama of this failed Utopia. The most striking reminder of Vespasiano Gonzaga are some frescos and wall panels and the wooden statues of the four surviving horsemen of the Gonzaga family including himself.
Duke Vespasiano I Gonzaga-Colonna (1531-1591)
Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna (1531–1591), Duke of Sabbioneta "La piccola Atene" - Italy
Vespasiano wanted Sabbioneta to be a strategic town, so he hired the greatest architects, making his court the heart of the Renaissance.
The Tragic Duke
Vespasiano Gonzaga, who was born in 1531 in Italy but educated and married in Spain. He returned with a vision of creating an ideal place where artists, painters, scientists and writers could live in harmony with the perfect patron.
After having initiated the project, Vespasiano was called away to war, and when he returned, he found that his wife had been unfaithful. Some say he killed her lover and locked her up in a room with the corpse where she was served a glass of poisoned wine a day with the word ‘bevi !’.
After three days she drank from the cup and died.
More tragedies ensued. The duke kicked his only son by a second wife for disobedience, causing an injury that led to the boy’s death.
And at the age of sixty he was suffering from some neurological disease, and to cure him doctors drilled a hole in his skull. After the trepanation he woke up one morning, sat up in bed, and said ‘I am cured’, before he fell back and died.
The ducal palace in Sabbioneta is still standing, but you have to know the story beforehand to see the drama of this failed Utopia. The most striking reminder of Vespasiano Gonzaga are some frescos and wall panels and the wooden statues of the four surviving horsemen of the Gonzaga family including himself.