Giulia Gonzaga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Giulia Gonzaga (1513 - April 16, 1566) was an Italian noblewoman of Renaissance age.

[edit] Biography

Giulia was born in Gazzuolo (near Mantua) in 1513. In 1526 (at age 13) she was married to count Vespasiano Colonna (1480-1528), count of Fondi and duke of Traetto (present-day Minturno). After her husband died three years after their marriage, Giulia organized her palace as a center of culture, attracting the attention of many of her contemporaries as much for these activities as for her famous beauty, though she refused to marry again. She had a liaison with Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici of Florence, who died in Itri (southern Lazio) after a meeting with her.

In the night between August 8 and August 9 of 1534, the town of Fondi was attacked by the corsair Barbarossa, who was seeking to kidnap her and deliver her to his emperor. She escaped, and Barbarossa, frustrated, massacred the populations of Fondi and nearby Sperlonga, though he was repulsed at nearby Itri. There is also speculation that Barbarossa's attempt may have been motivated by members of the Colonna family wishing to recover their lands after Vespasiano Colonna's death.

Giulia Gonzaga joined a convent in Naples in 1535 (at age 22), and there met Juan de Valdés in 1536. This encounter and subsequent correspondence brought her to the attention of the Inquisition, for example leading her to write a letter in 1553 to cardinal Ercole Gonzaga to express her lack of agreement with the later writings of de Valdés.

Giulia Gonzaga died at age 53 in 1566. After her death, her correspondence with Pietro Carnesecchi led to the latter's being burned at the stake for heresy (in 1567).