 He had the fortune to live at Mantua during the apogee of its Renaissance cultural flowering, under the rule of the Gonzaga dynasty.This period was also one of relative peace and well-being for the Jewish community of Mantua, which blossomed from a mere 200 souls in 1500 to a population of 2,000 at the beginning of the 17th century.However, by 1650, a series of catastrophes had cut this number is half, and reduced the remaining Jewish-Mantuan community to poverty.