The little room of Diana and Actaeon
The little room is square built on 14 lunettes, 4 on the long side, 3 on the short sides with mosaic vaults supported by Medusan masks. The decoration totally covers these parts leaving empty the lower area which is surrounded by a wooden frame with an epigraph related to the mythology fable. The vault is thought to be a crypt characterized by “pennacchi” in false with a golden mosaic opening in a blue sky; there is a rose trellis and a beautiful garden with twelve putts offering fruits and flowers. In the centre there is an octagonal “window” surrounded by white roses. In its centre there is the divine mirror in a golden wooden frame with the inscription “Respice finem”. The fable of Diana and Actaeon is setting in the lunettes and it’s inspired to the “Ovid’ Metamorphoses” (book III, vv. 138-253) a classical text of the Humanistic period. Parmigianino “tells” the story during the “Golden Age” using the narrative time in the hours toward the twilight (decline). The setting (a thick forest) of the story is the same of the Ovid’s story with some variants, created by the painter and his patrons.
In the first wall two hunters (with classic clothes) with two dogs, are following a nymph who is taking them in the thick wood. The nymph can be considered the female identification of Actaeon as shown by her clothes with the horn hang to her belt and the elegant greyhound. In fact under this figure there is a Greek inscription of Actaeon, “Actaeone”.
In Ovid’s story this particular of the nymph is not present, so Actaeon is a male figure, a bearded hunter as in the mythology story. Suddenly Actaeon finds himself in front of naked Diana who is purifying herself from the blood of the hunting in a roses bath. On Diana’s blond hair the crescent moon stands out and unequivocally identified her, while on the bath there are her white elegant and soft clothes. Immediately Diana sprays him with water and the young man begins to change into a stag. A young hunter, surrounded by his dogs, playing his horn, begins the hunting: this time Actaeon (completely changed into a stag) is the quarry and he is torn to pieces by his dogs.
A young man and a old one indifferently witness to this cruel scene. It has been noted the docile glance of the stag attacked by dogs: this immobility and apparent tranquillity seems to be a variant of the Metamorphoses. Among dogs a greyhound appears with a collar characterized by a golden open sea-shell which is present in other parts of the fresco. It is a particular symbol traditionally linked to the figure of Diana-Moon, but with an idea of chastity and maternity of the Virgin.
In the vault between two lunettes representing Actaeon’s death, two children appear the oldest sustains the newborn child. According to an ancient tradition, in the Sanvitale’s family these two babies were identified as Galeazzo and Paola’ sons. In particular one of their children died in the autumn of 1523 (when Parmigianino arrived in Fontanellato). In the fresco the newborn has thread of pomegranates and a cherry’s branch in his hand (both symbols of an unjust and untimely death, often used in Jesus representation). At the end of the fable there is an inscription into frame which can be considered the moral summary of the fable itself. The inscription is different from the Ovid’s text and it’s a thought about man’s destiny, about an unjust punishment.

“AD DIANAM/DIC DEA SI MISERUM SORS HUC ACTEONA DUXIT A TE CUR CANIBUS/TRADITUR ESCA SUIS/NON NISI MORTALES ALIQUO/PRO CRIMINE PENAS FERRE LICET: TALIS NEC DECET IRA/DEAS”.

In this Latin sentence it’s clear the significant of  “Respice finem” (look at the end) it’s a warning to reflect on man’s Destiny  and Fortune, on Actaeon’s death. In the last wall, in the centre, on a golden scenery with trees and dogs on the lateral lunettes, there is a female figure with blond hair. She wears a XVth century white elegant dress, with golden sashes, she has two ears between her hands and a cup on a tray. Since years the critic tradition considers this woman the madam of the castle, Paola Gonzaga. Paola Gonzaga is watching at the beginning of the narration like an introduction or vision of the fable. After Paola’s lunette there is the invocation to the Goddess. So Paola’s figure is like the symbolic conclusion of the whole cycle.
The restoration of the frescoe was carried out by the “Opificio delle Pietre Dure” in Florence, with the financial contribution of the  Istituto dei Beni Culturali” (Institute of Cultural Goods) of the Region Emilia Romagna, the scientific collaboration of the “Sopraintendenza per i Beni Artistici e Storici” (Superintend for Artistic and Historic Goods) of Parma and Piacenza.

Reproductions:
Second wall (east)
Fourth wall (west)