Editing Isabella d'Este (section)

=== Widowhood ===

==== "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>

==== Later years and death ====
Once Rome became stabilized following the sacking, she left the city and returned to Mantua. She made it a centre of culture, started a school for girls, and turned her ducal apartments into a museum containing the finest art treasures. This was not enough to satisfy Isabella, already in her mid-sixties, so she returned to political life and ruled [[Solarolo]], in [[Emilia-Romagna|Romagna]] until her death on 13 February 1539. She was buried beside her husband in the Church of Santa Paola in Mantua, but the remains were stolen.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Canadè |first=Rossella |title=Dalle ossa riesumate l'altra faccia dei Gonzaga |url=http://gazzettadimantova.gelocal.it/cronaca/2011/02/06/news/dalle-ossa-riesumate-l-altra-faccia-dei-gonzaga-1.148964|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429050046/http://gazzettadimantova.gelocal.it/cronaca/2011/02/06/news/dalle-ossa-riesumate-l-altra-faccia-dei-gonzaga-1.148964 |archive-date=29 April 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Este, Beatrice d' and Isabella d' – Dictionary definition of Este, Beatrice d' and Isabella d' {{!}} Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/este-beatrice-d-and-isabella-d|access-date=1 February 2018|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>