Gian Galeazzo Sanvitale

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Gian Galeazzo Sanvitale (1496 – 2 December 1550), also called Galeazzo I Sanvitale, was an Italian noble and military leader from the Sanvitale family. He was born in Fontanellato, near Parma, to Jacopo Antonio Sanvitale and Veronica da Correggio, a few months after his brother Gian Francesco fought for the French at the Battle of Fornovo. When his father died in 1511, Gian Galeazzo inherited Fontanellato and other nearby lands. His mother died the next year, and he was educated first by his brother Gian Francesco and then by Galeotto Lupi.

During the Italian Wars he sided with the French. After the Battle of Ravenna in 1512, the French, though victorious, had to abandon Emilia and Lombardy; Parma was occupied by Papal troops, and Gian Francesco urged his brother to submit to Pope Julius II. In December 1512 the Rocca di Fontanellato was divided between them. Lupi died in 1513, and Gian Galeazzo inherited his assets. In 1516 he married Paola Gonzaga, and Fontanellato’s court became a lively cultural center thanks to him, his wife, his brother Gian Ludovico, and Girolamo Sanvitale.

In 1522 he was appointed colonel for the King of France and helped Girolamo in the fight against the Rossi of Parma. In 1525, after the French defeat at Pavia, he faced attacks from Parma’s troops but remained loyal to Francis I and later became a French citizen. In 1536 he and Girolamo were declared rebels against papal power. In 1539–1540, with Pico and French support, he attempted to seize Cremona, but the plot was uncovered by Imperial forces. After Pier Luigi Farnese became lord of Parma in 1545, Sanvitale kept a pro-French stance. When Farnese was killed at Piacenza, he fortified Fontanellato and resisted Ferrante Gonzaga, the Spanish governor of Milan, refusing to submit to Emperor Charles V. He died near Parma at the start of the War of Parma.