Birthplace of the Secular Drama In the midst of more imposing chronicles bearing upon the growth of Italy the student of her history is likely to lose sight of the little Marquisate of Mantua.

Yet its story is profoundly interesting and in its relations to the development of the lyric drama filled with significance.

That it should have come to occupy such a high position among the cultivated centers of the Renaissance seems singularly appropriate since Virgil, the Italian literary deity of the period, was born at Pietole, now a suburb of Mantua.
The marquisate owed its elevation to the character of the great lords of the house of Gonzaga, who ruled it from 1328 to 1708.

In the former year the head of the house ousted from the government the Buonacolsis, who had been masters since 1247.

In 1432 the Gonzagas were invested with the hereditary title of Marquis and in 1530 Charles V raised the head of the house to the rank of Duke.