INTERESTING DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE DUCAL PALACE, MANTUA.

The Secret Garden has risked being destroyed several times and instead, fortunately, it has reached us. It has not yet been possible to attribute its paternity to one or other of the prefects of the ducal factories but we can certainly say who its mother is: Isabella d'Este. The marquise signs it with an inscription that runs along the entire wall that encloses the garden and separates it from Piazza Pallone, which can be read here on one of the sheets: ISABELLA ESTENSIS, REGUM ARAGONUM NEPTIS, DUCUM FERRARIENSIUM FILIA ET SOROR, MARCHIONUM GONZAGARUM CONIUX ET MATER, FECIT A PARTU VIRGINIS MDXXII. (Isabella Estense, granddaughter of the kings of Aragon, daughter and sister of the dukes of Ferrara, wife and mother of the marquises Gonzaga, made 1522 the year from the birth of the Virgin). The rectangular space (about 80 square meters) is decorated with semi-columns and is organized into flowerbeds with a fountain in the middle, in place of the well mentioned in some descriptions of the garden.