ABSTRACT
Francesco Gonzaga, fourth Marquis of Mantua, married Isabelia d’Este, the most famous woman of the Renaissance. He himself was an interesting and flamboyant representative of the princes of his generation. Short, lithe, athletic, Francesco was a superb horseman, a brave but barely competent soldier, a crafty and successfully dishonest ruler and a great lover of wine and women. In the spring of 1481 Marquis Federigo and Francesco made a state visit to Ferrara ostensibly to give Francesco the opportunity of meeting his future bride and her family, but actually to cement an alliance with Duke Ercole. Horse races were held and the Gonzaga Barbary horses won the palio, a prize consisting of a cloth of gold. Gonzaga and Isabella d’Este were married in Ferrara on February 11, 1940. During Francesco’s imprisonment Isabella had ruled Mantua with an astute head and a firm hand.
