With Baldassarre dead on 8th February, on 27th April 1529 Clemente VII sent two short messages of condolence and spiritual comfort to his mother Aloisia Castiglione, in which he declared to take into his protection the three young children, donating a large sum for their education.
In June of the following year, on the request of Aloisia and following the dispositions of the will laid out in 1523 by Castiglione himself, the body of the nuncio was transferred to Italy. Received in Mantua in great honour and by widespread tributes of affection, he was buried in the sanctuary of S. Maria delle Grazie, outside the city, next to his wife, in the tomb created by Giulio Romano and surmounted by the triumphant figure of Christ.
Pietro Bembo, the friend whom Baldassarre had indicated for this responsibility, dictated the epitaph that is still legible today. The text, with clear and at the same time humanistic elegance, gives us a synthesis of the dead man’s life, outlining the four principle traits of his personality: the vast literary culture and artistic acumen, as well as a perfect command of Greek and Latin; his diplomatic missions carried out on the Italian and European stage; the titles of honour he had received; the composition of the Libro del Cortegiano, that was, in the words of Bembo, “quatuor libri de instituendis regis familiaribus” (= four books about the education of the members of the royal family), a description that expressly equated the work, decreeing its greatness and importance, with the great ethical and pedagogic tracts of the humanistic and classical eras.
Burial in the tomb in Mantua
