I - Cremona
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2010
Summary
Birth, family, surroundings
“15 May 1567, Claudio Zuan [= Giovanni] Antonio, son of Messer Baldasar Mondeverdo, godfather Signor Zuan Batista Zacaria, godmother Madonna Laura de la Fina”. Thus reads the entry, itself dated 15 May 1567, in the baptismal register of the church of SS. Nazaro e Celso in Cremona, recording the baptism of the first child of Baldassarre Monteverdi and Maddalena Zignani, who had been married towards the beginning of 1566.
An apothecary, surgeon and doctor, Baldassarre had first kept a shop near Cremona Cathedral; only after his marriage did he move to the parish of SS. Nazaro e Celso in the Belfiore district of the Piazzano quarter. Claudio was born in this house, and was followed by Maria Domitilla and Giulio Cesare, baptized on 16 May 1571 and 31 January 1573 respectively. Maddalena died some time around 1576, but after Baldassarre remarried Giovanna Gadio in 1576-7 other children came to join those of the first marriage: Clara Massimilia (baptized 8 January 1579), Luca (baptized 7 February 1581) and Filippo (baptized January 1583). A third marriage (to Francesca Como, after 1583) seems not to have increased the family still further.
Cremona stood at the south-eastern edge of the state of Milan; for its economic and political importance it was the second city of the state after the capital. But Cremona was also close to the dominions of Venice (which stretched to the city), of the Gonzagas (the duchy of Mantua) and of the Farnese (the duchy of Parma).
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- Information
- Monteverdi , pp. 6 - 21Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994