{{Infobox noble , name = Paola Agnese Malatesta , title = Marquesa of Mantua , image = File:Paola Malatesta.jpg , caption = , alt = , CoA = 100px , more = no , succession = , spouse = Gianfrancesco , spouse-type = , issue =

Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua Ludovico III Gonzaga of Mantua, also spelled Lodovico (also Ludovico II; 5 June 1412 – 12 June 1478) was the ruler of the Italian city of Mantua from 1444 to his death in 1478. Biography Ludovico was the son of Gianfrancesco I Gonzaga and ...

Cecilia Gonzaga , issue-link = , issue-pipe = , full name = , native_name = , styles = , titles = , noble family =

Malatesta Malatesta may refer to: People Given name * Malatesta (I) da Verucchio (1212–1312), founder of the powerful Italian Malatesta family and a famous condottiero *Malatesta IV Baglioni (1491–1531), Italian condottiero and lord of Perugia, Bettona, ...

, house-type = , father =

Malatesta IV Malatesta Malatesta IV (or III) Malatesta (also known as Malatesta dei Sonetti; 1370 - 19 December 1429) was an Italian condottiero, poet and lord of Pesaro, Fossombrone, Gradara, Jesi, Narni and other fiefs in Italy. Biography Born in Pesaro, he was the o ...

, mother =

Elisabetta da Varano The Da Varano was an Italian noble family who had an important role in the medieval and Renaissance history of central Italy, as rulers of Camerino and other lands in the Marche and Umbria. Overview The family is first mentioned in the 13th c ...

, birth_name = , birth_date = {{Birth year, 1393 , birth_place =

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

, christening_date = , christening_place = , death_date = {{Death date, 1449, 02, 28 , death_place =

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

, burial_date = , burial_place = , religion = , occupation = , memorials = , website = , module = Paola Agnese Malatesta (1393 — 28 February 1449) also Paola of Mantua was an Italian noblewoman of the noble family

House of Malatesta ) , type= Noble house , country=ItalySan Marino, estates= Castel Sismondo (Rimini) Rocca Malatestiana (Cesena) , titles=, founded=, founder=Malatesta da Verucchio, final ruler=Pandolfo IV Malatesta, deposition=, dissolution= The House of Malatesta ...

, rulers of

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

and

.{{cite book, author=Donald C. Sanders, title=Music at the Gonzaga Court in Mantua, publisher=Lexington Books, year=2012, pages=16-17, location=Lanham She was born in Pesaro in 1393 to

, lord of Pesaro and

Fossombrone Fossombrone is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, Marche, central Italy. History The ancient Roman colony of ''Forum Sempronii'' took its name from Gaius Sempronius Gracchus. Near the Furlo Pass, during the Gothic War (535 ...

, and

. On 22 August 1409 she married

Gianfrancesco Gonzaga Gianfrancesco I Gonzaga (1395 – 23 September 1444) was Marquess of Mantua from 1407 to 1444. He was also a condottiero. Biography Gianfrancesco was the son of Francesco I Gonzaga and Margherita Malatesta. He inherited the rule of Mantua ...

, leader of Mantua, in Pesaro. She was the first

Marquesa A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

of Mantua after her husband received the title. Paola had six children. This union introduced the genetic disease of

kyphosis Kyphosis is an abnormally excessive convex curvature of the spine as it occurs in the thoracic and sacral regions. Abnormal inward concave ''lordotic'' curving of the cervical and lumbar regions of the spine is called lordosis. It can result fr ...

to the Gonzaga family which showed in subsequent generations.{{cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvquisjv3soC&pg=PA198, author1=Costantino Cipolla, author2=Giancarlo Malacarne, title=Amore e sesso al tempo dei Gonzaga, location=Milano, publisher=FrancoAngeli, year=2006 She was known as a pious, dignified and keen woman and played a significant role in the Gonzaga court. Paola greatly influenced Mantuan culture by encouraging her husband to bring

Vittorino da Feltre Vittorino da Feltre (1378February 2, 1446) was an Italian humanist and teacher. He was born in Feltre, Belluno, Republic of Venice and died in Mantua. His real name was Vittorino Rambaldoni. It was in Vittorino that the Renaissance idea of the com ...

to Mantua to tutor their children. Vittorino was an early humanist scholar. At the request of

Bernardino da Siena Bernardino of Siena, OFM (8 September 138020 May 1444), also known as Bernardine, was an Italian priest and Franciscan missionary preacher in Italy. He was a systematizer of Scholastic economics. His preaching, his book burnings, and his " bon ...

, who visited her in 1418,{{cite web, url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/bernardino-da-siena-santo_(Dizionario-Biografico), work=Dizionario Treccani, title=Bernardino da Siena she built the Church of Saint Paola with an adjoining convent in Mantua around 1420 for the Franciscan

Poor Clare Nuns The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

.{{cite web, url=http://restauro.istitutisantapaola.com/Istituto.aspx, title=Istituti Santa Paola Mantova, access-date=December 26, 2011 She retired to the convent after her husband's death in 1444. Paola died in

in 1449 and was interred in the convent of Santa Paola in monastic habit per her wishes. She is a saint in the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

martyrology A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by na ...

.{{cite web, url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paola-malatesta-gonzaga-prima-marchesa-di-mantova_(Dizionario-Biografico)/, publisher=Treccani, title=Paola Malatesta

Gallery

file:Andrea Mantegna 055.jpg, Portrait by

Andrea Mantegna Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in order ...

presumed to be of Paola Malatesta standing behind Barbara of Brandenburg

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

*{{cite book, author=Adelaide Murgia, title=I Gonzaga, location=Milan, publisher=Mondadori, year=1972 *{{cite book, author=Roberto Brunelli, title=I Gonzaga. Quattro secoli per una dinastia, location=Mantua, year=2010 *{{cite book, author=Anna Falcioni, title=Dizionario Biografico degli Italia, volume=68, year=2007, publisher=Treccani {{DEFAULTSORT:Malatesta, Paola 1393 births 1449 deaths Nobility of Mantua

Margherita Margherita is an Italian feminine given name. It also is a surname. As a word, in Italian it means " daisy". Given name As a name, it may refer to: *Margherita Aldobrandini (1588–1646), Duchess consort of Parma *Margherita de' Medici (1612 ...

14th-century Italian women 15th-century Italian women