Giulia Gonzaga

Giulia Gonzaga
countess of Fondi, duchess of Traetto
Giulia Gonzaga in 1535, mourning.
Spouse(s)	Vespasiano Colonna, count of Fondi and duke of Traetto
Noble family	Gonzaga
Father	Ludovico Gonzaga
Born	1513 Gazzuolo, present-day Italy
Died	16 April 1566 Rome, Papal States (present-day Italy)
Occupation	Poet

Giulia Gonzaga (1513 – 16 April 1566) was an Italian noblewoman of the Renaissance.

Giulia was born in Gazzuolo (near Mantua) in 1512 the daughter of Ludovico Gonzaga, lord of Sabbioneta and Bozzolo, and Francesca Fieschi. In 1526 (at age 14) she was married to count Vespasiano Colonna (1480-1528), count of Fondi and duke of Traetto (present-day Minturno). After her husband died three years after their marriage, Giulia organized her palace as a center of culture, attracting the attention of many of her contemporaries as much for these activities as for her famous beauty, though she refused to marry again. She had a liaison with Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici of Florence, who died in Itri (southern Lazio) after a meeting with her.

In the night of 8–9 August 1534, the town of Fondi was attacked by the corsair Barbarossa, who was seeking to kidnap her and deliver her to Suleiman the Magnificent, his emperor. Barbarossa had been ordered to kidnap her by Ibrahim Pasha, the Ottoman Grand Vizier. Pasha's plan was to add her to the sultan's harem and supplant Roxelana, the sultan's wife. She escaped, and Barbarossa, frustrated, massacred the populations of Fondi and nearby Sperlonga, though he was repulsed at nearby Itri. She fled into the night, accompanied by a single knight. She later had the knight killed because she had been nearly nude during her escape and he had seen too much. There is also speculation that Barbarossa's attempt may have been motivated by members of the Colonna family wishing to recover their lands after Vespasiano Colonna's death.