Baldassarre Castiglione was born on December 6, 1478, in the family estate of Casatico, near Mantua. He was educated in Milan, where he studied advanced levels of Greek and Latin in the schools of Giorgio Merula and Demetrio Calcondila. After the death of his father, Cristoforo (March 1499), and the conquest of the Duchy of Milan (until then under the rule of the Sforza family) by King Louis XII of France, he was forced to return to Mantua. There he entered the service of Marquis Francesco Gonzaga, with military and diplomatic tasks.
In 1503-1504 he was in Rome, fascinated by the beauty of the city and intrigued by the intellectual life led by clergymen and humanists. There he met for the first time the duke of Urbino, Guidubaldo of Montefeltro. The meeting awakened in his heart the
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Citation: Motta, Uberto. "Baldassare Castiglione". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 January 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=784, accessed 21 November 2024.]
