Ferrante III Gonzaga (4 April 1618 – 11 January 1678), was a

Duke of Guastalla This is a list of rulers of Guastalla, a town in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, on the right bank of the Po River. The County of Guastalla was established in 1406 for the Torelli family. In 1456, the county was partitioned, with county of Montechiarugolo ...

. He was the son of Cesare II Gonzaga,

and Duke of Amalfi and Isabella

Orsini Orsini is a surname of Italian origin, originally derived from Latin ''ursinus'' ("bearlike") and originating as an epithet or sobriquet describing the name-bearer's purported strength. Notable people with the surname include the following: * Aaro ...

Life

Ferrante succeeded his father in 1632. In 1638 he sold all the minor Neapolitan fiefs and in 1640 also sold the Principality of Molfetta.

Marriage and issue

On 25 June 1647, Ferrante married Princess Margherita

d'Este The House of Este ( , , ) is a European dynasty of North Italian origin whose members ruled parts of Italy and Germany for many centuries. The original House of Este's elder branch, which is known as the House of Welf, included dukes of Bavaria ...

(1619-1692), daughter of Duke

Alfonso III d'Este Alfonso III d'Este (22 October 1591 – 24 May 1644) was List of Dukes of Ferrara and of Modena, Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1628 to 1629. He was the husband of Princess Isabella of Savoy, daughter of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and his ...

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

. They had: * Isabella (d. 1653). * Rinaldo (1652 – 9 October 1657). * Cesare (1653–1666). * Anna Isabella (12 February 1655 – 18 August 1703), married in 1670 Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga (1652–1708), Duke of Mantua and Monferrato. * Maria Vittoria (9 September 1659 – 5 September 1707), married in 1679 her cousin Vincenzo Gonzaga. * Vincenzo (d. 1665/66). When Ferrante died without surviving male heirs, the Duchy of Guastalla became officially a part of the

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...

. It was ruled by his daughter Anna's husband, Ferdinando Carlo of Mantua from 1678 to 1692. Due to Austrian intervention, the Duchy then passed to his daughter Maria's husband, Vincenzo Gonzaga.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzaga, Ferrante 3 1618 births 1678 deaths Ferrante 3 Ferrante 3 17th-century Italian nobility