Person

Vespasiano Gonzaga

1531–1591 · 16th century

Vespasiano Gonzaga was an Italian nobleman, soldier and patron from a cadet branch of the Gonzaga family, who served Philip II of Spain as a military engineer and as viceroy of Navarre and Valencia. From the 1550s he rebuilt his town of Sabbioneta, between Mantua and Parma, as an ideal Renaissance city with walls, palaces and a theatre. Emperor Rudolf II made it a duchy in 1577.

Vespasiano Gonzaga — Image: Bernardino Campi · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Duchy of Sabbioneta

See also

Cite this entry

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Vespasiano Gonzaga. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/vespasiano-gonzaga
MLA: “Vespasiano Gonzaga.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/vespasiano-gonzaga. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Vespasiano Gonzaga.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/vespasiano-gonzaga.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Vespasiano Gonzaga’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/vespasiano-gonzaga (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻