Palazzo Te

It’s a few weeks ago and I am being shown around Palazzo Te, a summer palace in the north of Italy. It is 34 degrees and sweat is tickling the backs of my legs, and there’s a headache like a solar flare threatening to whip my skull if I don’t inhale water like air. My friend knows every single thing about this place, and the way he speaks, it’s like a tour guide is showing me around inside a dream. He tells me about the ruling Gonzaga family of Mantua and how, at the beginning of the 16th Century, their 10 year old son Federico was traded in a political deal with Rome. Sent there as a hostage, that kid grew up in the Vatican during the Renaissance. A teenager forged at the centre of the avant-garde. When he was finally free to return north, brain hot with art and, later, syphilis, he commissioned this palace. A team of artists, including Guilio Romano, painted the interior over the course of ten years. The first trick happens as soon as we arrive. This friend is pointing out every…