Occasionally a man emerges from history without us knowing him. Duke Vespasiano Gonzaga (1531-91) of Sabbioneta escaped the net of sixteenth century Italy, and its history of wars and conflicts, to fashion a life that was uniquely different. He set out to change the way urban man lived. Importantly, he was the first man to build a Citta ideale. Sabbioneta is the prototype of all planned cities of the modern era. As a confidant of King Philip II of Spain and a traveller, he quickly acquired a cosmopolitan worldview, which led him to become a uomo universale. It was in this capacity that he...