[1][2] Her baptism took place the same year and was attended by Cardinal Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte an adoptive nephew of Pope Julius III.

[3] Cardinal Spinello de' Benci performed the ceremony on behalf of Pope Pius V.[4] The baptism was celebrated also with hunting excursions and parties.

[5] It was at first believed Eleanor would marry Francis, Duke of Anjou,[6] son of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici.

Eight days after the celebrations, the couple traveled to Florence to meet Eleanor's father Grand Duke Francesco and her stepmother Bianca Cappello.

After resting at Palazzo Te, Eleanor changed into a jewelled silver-brocade dress and made her entry into the city to salvos of arquebuses and artillery while riding in a semi-covered gilded carriage pulled by four white horses and accompanied by the Mantuan military, mounted arquebusiers, light cavalry, noblemen and women in carriages.

After arriving at the Castello di San Giorgio she proceeded to the palatine church of Santa Barbara and the Ducal Palace where she was greeted at the foot of the stairs by Duke and Duchess of Mantua, Guglielmo Gonzaga and Eleanor of Austria.

She then suffered a miscarriage in 1596, four months into pregnancy,[22] and in 1598 she gave birth to a second daughter, also named Eleanor, who married Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.

[citation needed] When Duke Vincenzo returned to Mantua on 3 October 1611, plans were made for Eleanor's funeral to be held on the Feast of Saint Francesco (it was then delayed by a few days so that preparations in Sant'Andrea could be finished).

During this interim period, her body was placed upon a "beautiful catafalque resplendant with many candles" that had been specially constructed in the aforementioned oratory and accompanied by priests from Santa Barbara and tertiary nuns from the city's major churches.