Deanna Shemek, UCI Professor of European Languages and Studies, leads a group of international scholars and digital designers developing a multimedia platform dedicated to the life, letters and spaces of the Italian Renaissance princess Isabella d’Este. Re-launched in January 2023 after a major reconstruction, the Isabella d’Este Archive (IDEA) offers users around the world new ways to encounter the history and culture of early modern Italy. 

Palazzo Ducale ha in serbo una gustosa sorpresa per i suoi visitatori più appassionati: si chiama ISA ed è un fumetto ispirato alla celebre figura di Isabella d'Este!

The IDEA Letters project is dedicated to Daniela Ferrari.

Francesco II Gonzaga e Isabella d’Este furono due protagonisti dell’Italia del Rinascimento. Trasformarono una piccola città come Mantova in uno dei centri culturali e politici del continente e vissero pericolosamente tra intrighi, guerre e congiure.

Examining Isabella’s letters as both documentary evidence and scripted performance, In Continuous Expectation proposes a view of the early modern letter as a technology.

The marriage of Isabella d'Este, one of the most famous figures of the Italian Renaissance, and Francesco Gonzaga, ruler of the small northern Italian principality of Mantua (r.1484-1519) offers a fascinating portrait of political marriage in the early modern period.