Away “a crossbow's throw” from the walls of Mantua, the island of Te was a place of delight for the Gonzaga. Federico II, in his early twenties, had a palace built there for “honest idleness”, far from the cares of the State. Another young genius, Giulio Romano, a favourite pupil of Raphael, was given the opportunity to turn his client's dream into reality. Thus Palazzo Te took shape, one of the most celebrated examples of a Renaissance villa, which has survived almost intact to the present day.