Ferrante Gonzaga (28 January 1507 – 15 November 1557) was an Italian condottiero who was Count of Guastalla from 1539 to 1557 (succeeding Ludovica Torelli and preceding Cesare I Gonzaga), Viceroy of Sicily from 1535 to 1546 (succeeding Ettore Pignatelli e Caraffa and preceding Juan de Vega), and Governor of the Duchy of Milan from 1546 to 1555 (succeeding Alfonso d'Avalos and preceding Fernando Alvarez de Toledo).
Biography[]
Ferrante Gonzaga was born in Mantua, the third son of Francesco II Gonzaga and Isabella d'Este. At the age of sixteen, he was sent to Spain as a page of King Carlos I of Spain, and he entered his service as a soldier. He took part in the 1527 sack of Rome, and he attended Charles' triumphant coronation at Bologna in 1530. Gonzaga also defended Naples from Odet of Foix and obtained the surrender of the Republic of Florence, leading to Pope Clement VII naming him the Papal Governor of Benevento. Gonzaga fought the Turks in Tunis in 1535 and Algiers in 1543 with a contingent of 3,000 cavalry, and he later served as Viceroy of Sicily and Governor of the Duchy of Milan. In 1539, he bought the countship of Guastalla on the left bank of the Po River, and he became a patron of the arts. In 1557, he fought at the Battle of St. Quentin, and he died in Brussels, Habsburg Netherlands after a fall from his horse.