Mantua, Ducal Palace launches online comic book about Isabella d'Este

An interesting surprise is the one that, in Mantua, Palazzo Ducale has launched in the last few hours: in fact, Isa, an online comic strip (but which will also be published every Saturday in print version for locals, in the Gazzetta di Mantova) dedicated to Isabella d’Este (Ferrara, 1474 - Mantua, 1539), which the public will be able to follow in her... adventures in the Palace, is born. Isabella d’Este is one of the greatest women of the Renaissance: married at the age of 16 to Francesco II Gonzaga, she would later become a cultured collector and patron of great artists (from Andrea Mantegna to Correggio, Leonardo da Vinci to Giulio Romano). The comic was conceived by Rulez srl, a company led by Chiara Palmieri, who involved Lorenzo Ghetti and Rita Petruccioli, author and illustrator respectively, who imagined a whimsical and brilliant Isabella (or rather, a... Isa), innovative and ahead of her time.

The webcomic will consist of 24 episodes inspired by the events of Isabella d’Este: the strips will be published every week, on Thursdays, on the website www.isavincetutto.com, on the social channels @isavincetutto and, as mentioned, on Saturdays in the Gazzetta di Mantova. The episodes consist of nine vignettes each and are inspired by real events, historically ascertained thanks to the scientific support of Palazzo Ducale and the passionate contribution of art historian Lorenzo Bonoldi, who provided scientific advice for the creation of the series and who, as an expert in digital communication for culture and social media manager, will also manage the social accounts of “Isa wins everything.” A series of tasty secondary characters (from Beatrice d’Este to Francesco II Gonzaga to Ludovico il Moro), all well-characterized, flank the marquise’s vicissitudes by indulging or countering ISA’s exuberance and assuring the reader more than a smile. The comic strip is aimed at a young audience but is suitable for everyone; it tells the story of Isabella in an original way, and among its aims is to promote in an innovative way the places of the Ducal Palace and in general the history of the Mantuan territory.

ISA and his court, in a first series of self-contained episodes, wink at real historical facts but present them through an ironic and lighthearted tone of voice, taking some liberties with ingenious narrative devices. Once the online publication is finished, a volume collecting the first series plus as many unpublished episodes will be produced and distributed to all bookstores and online stores.

“We imagined a comic strip about Isabella d’Este,” explains Ducal Palace director Stefano L’Occaso, "for a disenchanted and entertaining approach to a key character in the history of Mantua and the Ducal Palace. Without philological pedantry, but still starting from a solid historical basis, I believe that Lorenzo Ghetti and Rita Petruccioli’s interpretation renders with liveliness and wit the portrait of a truly exceptional woman, such as the Marchioness of Mantua was. After the well-known Fumetti nei Musei project of the Ministry of Culture, of which the Ducal Palace was a part, we wanted to present a webcomic with a structure of autonomous episodes, but able to build a broad narrative that will accompany us through time, thanks to an exceptional language, such as comics, now universally accepted among the artistic forms of contemporaneity."

“Telling Isabella d’Este in comics,” Rita Petruccioli tells Finestre sull’Arte, “is a great honor as well as an important challenge. Lorenzo Ghetti and I were carried away by the beauty of the Ducal Palace, from the Camera Picta to Isabella’s studiolo, and the undisputed charm of the Marchesa. We tried to translate in a pop key, as only comics can do, the figure of Isabella on her arrival in Mantua at the age of 16 making her much closer to a teenager of today. And precisely of a contemporary teenager we have provided her with accessories: Isa is in fact inseparable from her cell phone. A tool that underscores her ’being ahead’ and actualizes her having been ahead on the management of her public image, launching fashions, master of style and constantly looking for artists to promote. And despite the epochal differences, compared to a girl of today, we have made an entertaining portrait of her that not only plays with the protagonist’s capricious character, but also enhances all her personal skills and political battles to stand up for herself in a world where power roles are the prerogative of men.”

Mantua, Ducal Palace launches online comic book about Isabella d'Este

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