Giulio Romano had continued working in Mantua for Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga after the death of Federigo II Gonzaga in 1540, beginning work on the rebuilding of the city’s cathedral.

A prominent pupil of Raphael, Giulio’s stylistic deviations from high Renaissance classicism help define the sixteenth century style known as Mannerism.

Giulio also builds a Mannerist-style house for himself and his family in around 1544.

...Mantua, ...

Montferrat had been elevated to a Duchy in 1574.

The following year, Guglielmo Gonzaga, the second son of Federico II Gonzaga of Mantua and Margaret Palaeologina of Montferrat, becomes its first duke.

The Italian Renaissance had been the turning point in the development of gastronomic excellence: wealthy merchants in Italy were dining in elegant style by the beginning of the fifteenth century,

In place of the crude slabs of meat served elsewhere, they savor delicacies such as mushrooms, garlic, truffles, and tournedos (thick slices of beef fillets) and pasta dishes such as lasagna or ravioli.

In wealthier households such delicacies are served in sumptuous style.

When Vincenzo I, the duke of Mantua, celebrates his wedding feast in 1581, it lasts three hours and tables are laid with delicately embroidered cloths.

The tables are tastefully and imaginatively decorated with large statures made of marzipan, their bounty almost beyond belief in variety and presentation.

James Crichton, commonly called the “Admirable” Crichton, claims Scottish royal descent from his parents, Robert Crichton, a public official, and Elizabeth Stewart of the house of Beith.

After receiving an M.A. in 1575 from the University of St. Andrews in one year instead of the usual two, he had gone to Paris, where he seems to have distinguished himself at the Collège de Navarre.

His first known activity in Europe was his oration of July 1579 in the ducal palace at Genoa.

The next year, Crichton had presented himself to the Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, probably the author of a handbill that had attributed to the twenty-year-old Crichton excellence in every form of athletics, skill in arms and horsemanship, mastery of ten languages, encyclopedic familiarity with Scholastic and Christian philosophy, and a remarkable ability to debate on any subject proposed.

Manutius had introduced him to leading local Humanists, who are greatly impressed by his accomplishments.

At Padua in 1581, Crichton had enhanced his reputation in two debates, and Manutius pays tribute to his successes in his dedication for his own edition of Paradoxa by the Roman author Cicero.

Although many consider him to be a model of the cultured Scottish gentleman, others doubt the very existence of an individual of such achievements.

Crichton enters the service of the Duke of Mantua in 1582 but is slain here at the instigation, and probably at the hand, of the young prince Vincenzo Gonzaga, whose jealousy he has aroused.

...Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua, at whose court Joseph da Fano, a Jew, is a favorite.

The Jews are again permitted to read the Talmud and other Hebrew books, provided that they are printed according to the rules of censorship approved by Sixtus V. From Italy, where these expurgated books are printed by thousands, they are sent to the Jews of other various countries.

...Mantua, ...

...Mantua.

German and French troops carry the bubonic plague to the city of Mantua in 1629, as a result of troop movements associated with the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648).

Venetian troops, infected with the disease, retreat into northern and central Italy, spreading the infection.