Ferrante I Gonzaga, nobleman and warlord, was born in Mantua in 1507. A descendant of the Gonzaga and Este dynasties of the Marquisate of Mantua, Ferrante was destined from an early age for a military career. In 1523 he was sent to Madrid, to the court of Emperor Charles V.

Highly esteemed by the Emperor, in 1526 Ferrante fought alongside the imperial captains in the war against France, and in 1527 he was among the leading commanders involved in the Sack of Rome. In 1528 he was mobilised to defend Naples during its siege, and later took part in the military actions against pro-French nobles in Apulia, earning the Duchy of Ariano as a reward for his services. Meanwhile, he pursued the dowry of Isabella of Capua, which would grant him possession of Molfetta, Giovinazzo and the County of Benevento: with papal approval, he married Princess Isabella, thus becoming one of the most powerful feudal lords of the Kingdom of Naples.

In 1530 he led the siege of Florence, gaining the gratitude of Pope Clement VII, who appointed him Governor of Benevento.

In 1531, Emperor Charles V awarded him  the Order of the “Golden Fleece”. The following year, he opposed the Ottoman threat to Vienna; as a result, Charles appointed him Viceroy of Sicily - from 1535 to 1546 -, and later Governor of Milan - from 1546 to 1554 -. During his Milanese Governorship, Ferrante promoted extensive urban reorganization works, including the construction of the bastioned walls that surrounded the city of Milan until the late 19th-century.

Ferrante I was the founder of the cadet branch of the Gonzaga dynasty of Guastalla - a city he acquired in 1539 by paying 22.230 gold shields to Countess Ludovica Torelli. At the time, the County of Guastalla enjoyed broad jurisdictional autonomy within the Holy Roman Empire, effectively making Ferrante the ruler of a small, almost independent state. Ferrante died in Brussels in 1557, following a mysterious illness contracted after the Battle of Saint-Quentin.

He is commemorated by the bronze statue standing today in Piazza Mazzini in Guastalla, created by sculptor Leone Leoni. The statue depicts Ferrante trampling a satyr - symbol of vice - and a beheaded hydra - emblem of envy and slander -. The entire monument serves as an allegory of Ferrante’s loyalty to the Emperor and as a triumphant response to the unfounded accusations brought against him during his Governorship of Milan. Having successfully cleared his name at the court of Charles V, the statue was later commissioned by his son Cesare to commemorate this episode.