[Footnote *255: Henry landed at Calais August 1st, 1513; it was
then in English hands, as it remained till Mary Tudor lost it
in 1558. From Calais Henry advanced to the siege of Terouenne.
Castiglione was, of course, in London in 1506 to receive the Garter
for Guidobaldo from Henry VII.; a second journey seems apocryphal.
On Castiglione at Urbino and elsewhere, cf. LUZIO e RENIER, _Mantova e
Urbino_ (Torino, 1893), pp. 174, 234, 242 _et seq._]
[Footnote *256: Yet he seems to have suffered in the war. His long
residence at Urbino may well have been due to the Duchess, who loved
him sincerely.]
The estate thus associated with Castiglione is generally said to owe
its name to its "noble air"; and certainly upon the Italian principle
that a healthful atmosphere must be sought in high places, that of
Novillara ought to possess unusual virtues. But the learned Olivieri
has corrected this vulgar error, and has derived its denomination
from the Latin _nubilare_, which he renders as an open shed for the
housing of grain,--a grange, as it might be called. He has traced
it back to the twelfth century, and to the fourteenth ascribes
an imposing tower of three commodious stories built here by the
Malatesta. Hither was conducted, on her first arrival, Camilla of
Aragon, bride of Costanzo Sforza Lord of Pesaro; and its inaccessible
situation did not prevent a splendid manifestation of the general
joy, in fêtes and pageants, commemorated in a volume of excessive
rarity, which seem more proportioned to the affectionate gallantry of
her husband and subjects, than to the resources of their state, or to
the conveniences of this palace. Representations of the community
of Pesaro induced Francesco Maria to obtain from Castiglione a
restitution to them of this Castle, in 1522, under promise of
replacing it by an equivalent, which was never redeemed. Years passed
away, notwithstanding repeated remonstrances on the part of Camillo,
son of the Count, in which he even induced the Emperor to join. At
length, in 1573, Guidobaldo II. conferred a tardy compensation, by
granting to Count Camillo the Castel del Isola del Piano. This Duke
had previously built an addition to the palace of Novillara, with
elaborate decorations never completed. At his son's marriage with
Lucretia d'Este, this fief, then worth 500 scudi a year, was settled
upon her, but rarely occupied. It subsequently caught the young
prince Federigo's fancy, who had planned for its beautiful gardens
and frescoes, when untimely death cut short his schemes, and brought
the nationality of Urbino and Pesaro to a close.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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