Editing Isabella d'Este (section)

==== "Devoted head of state" ====
As a widow, Isabella at the age of 45 became a "devoted head of state". {{sfn|Marek|1976|p=204}} Her position as a Marquise required her serious attention, therefore she was required to study the problems faced by a ruler of a city-state. To improve the well-being of her subjects she studied architecture, agriculture, and industry, and followed the principles that [[Niccolò Machiavelli]] had set forth for rulers in his book ''[[The Prince]]''. In return, the people of Mantua respected and loved her. {{sfn|Marek|1976|p=205}}

[[File:BLW Plate with Hippolytus and Phaedra.jpg|thumb|[[Maiolica]] plate from [[Urbino]] with the arms of Isabella and her late husband, c. 1524 ([[Victoria and Albert Museum]])]]
Isabella left Mantua for Rome in 1527. She was present during the catastrophic [[Sack of Rome (1527)|Sack of Rome]], when she converted her house the ''Palazzo Colonna'', into an asylum for approximately 2,000 people (including clerics, nobles and common citizens) fleeing the Imperial soldiers. Her huge palace was the only place safe from attacks, because her son Ferrante Gonzaga was a general in the invading army and she herself had good relationship with the emperor. When she left Rome, she managed to acquire safe passage for all the refugees who had sought refuge in her home.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bartlett |first1=Kenneth |title=The Renaissance in Italy: A History |date=15 November 2019 |publisher=Hackett Publishing |isbn=978-1-62466-820-3 |page=315 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ta-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA315 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wagner |first1=John A. |title=Voices of the Renaissance: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life |date=4 February 2022 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-7604-2 |page=137 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O3FYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref>