Duchy of Mantua
The Duchy of Mantua (Italian: Ducato di Mantova; Lombard: Ducaa de Mantua) was a duchy in Lombardy, northern Italy. Its first duke was Federico II Gonzaga, member of the House of Gonzaga that ruled Mantua since 1328.[1] The following year, the Duchy also acquired the March of Montferrat, thanks to the marriage between Gonzaga and Margaret Paleologa, Marchioness of Montferrat.[2]
Duchy of Mantua
Federico II Gonzaga (first)
Austrian Habsburgs (last)
8 April 1530
25 December 1627
1628–1631
26 September 1786
24 January 1791
1797
Monetazione di Mantova
The Duchy's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family has made it one of the main artistic, cultural, and especially musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole. Mantua also had one of the most splendid courts of Italy and Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and early seventeenth centuries.[3]
In 1708, after the death of Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga, the last heir of the Gonzaga family, the Duchy ceased its existence. Their domains were divided between the House of Savoy, that obtained the remaining half of Montferrat, and the House of Habsburg, that obtained the city of Mantua itself.[4]