County of Guastalla
Cuntea de Guastàla (Emilian)
1406–1621
Coat of arms under the Torelli family of Guastalla
Coat of arms under the Torelli family
The county of Guastalla (1450)
The county of Guastalla (1450)
CapitalGuastalla
Common languagesEmilian
Lombard
Religion
Roman Catholicism
GovernmentCounty
Count 
 1406–1449
Guido Torelli (first)
 1575–1621
Ferrante II Gonzaga (last)
History 
 Created for the Torelli family
1406
 Partitioned to create
    Montechiarugolo

1456
 Purchased by
    Ferrante Gonzaga

1539
 Reacquired
    Montechiarugolo

1612
 Raised to duchy
    by Ferdinand II

2 July 1621
CurrencyGuastalla lira
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Duchy of Milan
Duchy of Guastalla

The County of Guastalla was a feudal state in northern Italy, centered on Guastalla. The title of count was created in 1406 for Guido Torelli.

History

The Torelli family ruled Guastalla until 1539. The final ruler, Countess Ludovica Torelli, inherited it as a young woman over her illegitimate older brother, sold her rights to the county to Ferrante Gonzaga for 22,000 ducats.[1][2] Another branch of the Torelli family held the County of Montechiarugolo, which was created in 1456 from a split in the County of Guastalla, until 1612.

Ferrante Gonzaga's descendants ruled Guastalla until 1746, being raised to the title of duke in 1621 when the territory became the Duchy of Guastalla. The last Gonzaga duke, Giuseppe Gonzaga, died heirless in 1746, at which point the territory was briefly incorporated into Austrian Lombardy.

With the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, Guastalla was ceded to the Duke of Parma.

See also

References

  1. Winston, ElDanté C. (May 2022). Power and Punishment: Architecture and Violence in the Italian Renaissance (PhD thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/145115.
  2. Rosenberg, Charles M. (2010-06-21). The Court Cities of Northern Italy: Milan, Parma, Piacenza, Mantua, Ferrara, Bologna, Urbino, Pesaro, and Rimini. Cambridge University Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-521-79248-6.

44°55′N 10°40′E / 44.917°N 10.667°E / 44.917; 10.667

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