GONZAGA, FAMILY. – Entirely legendary is the asserted Germanic descent of the G. and even their supposed kinship with the Ottonians. As to their origin, it is still debated whether they were soldiers of Countess Matilda of Canossa or, from very ancient times, minor vassals of the monastery of St. Benedict in Polirone (the feudal bond with this monastery still existed toward the end of the fourteenth century). In the second half of the twelfth century, the G. settled in the city of Mantua and steadily expanded their possessions around it and toward Reggio Emilia. In the thirteenth century they were banished from Reggio, and their goods in the Mantuan territory were confiscated, but the protection of the Bonacolsi enabled them to recover, and by the end of that century they had attained great economic power: their territories extended widely.
GONZAGA, BONAVENTURA. – Theologian and ascetical writer of the Conventual Franciscans, born in Reggio Emilia in the first half of the sixteenth century, died in Parma on 5 April 1586.
Philosopher and theologian, he held various chairs, including that of Venice in 1566; he was also a spiritual poet and above all an ascetical writer, well versed in mysticism. In 1574 he was general secretary of the Order. Among his works, much sought after in his time, noteworthy are: *Ragionamenti sopra li sette peccati mortali* (Venice 1566), *Parafrasi* (Venice 1566), *Parafrasi* (Venice 1566), *Parafrasi* (Venice 1566); in verse (ibid. 1566) and in prose, with meditations and affections (ibid. 1572), commentaries on the *Seven Words of the Blessed Virgin* and on the *Magnificat* (Naples 1569, Parma 1585).