Baldassare Castiglione, count of Novilara (December 6, 1478 – February 2, 1529), was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissance author.
He was born into an illustrious Lombard family near Casatico, near Mantua, where his family had constructed an impressive palazzo. The signoria of Casatico (today part of the commune of Marcaria) had been assigned to one Baldasare da Castiglione, a friend of Ludovico II Gonzaga, Marquis of...
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Baldassare Castiglione, count of Novilara (December 6, 1478 – February 2, 1529), was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissance author.
He was born into an illustrious Lombard family near Casatico, near Mantua, where his family had constructed an impressive palazzo. The signoria of Casatico (today part of the commune of Marcaria) had been assigned to one Baldasare da Castiglione, a friend of Ludovico II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, in 1445. The later Baldasare was related to Ludovico through his mother, Luigia Gonzaga.
In 1494, at the age of sixteen, Castiglione began his humanist studies in Milan, which would eventually inform his future writings. However, in 1499, after the death of his father, Castiglione left his studies and Milan to succeed his father as the head of their noble family. Soon his duties seem to have included representative offices for the Gonzaga court; for instance, he accompanied his marquis for the Royal entry at Milan of Louis XII. For...
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