Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, a choirboy at Santa Maria Maggiore at the age of twelve, had returned seven years later from Rome to his native town in 1544 as organist and singer in the cathedral, marrying in 1547.

From 1544, Palestrina had been organist of the principal church (St. Agapito) of his native city, and in 1551 he had become maestro di cappella at the Cappella Giulia, the papal choir at St. Peter's Basilica.

Palestrina’s first published compositions, a book of Masses, has made so favorable an impression with Pope Julius III (previously the Bishop of Palestrina) that he appoints Palestrina musical director of the Julian Chapel.

This is the first book of Masses by a native composer: in the Italian states of his day, most composers of sacred music are from the Low Countries, France, Portugal, or Spain.

In fact the book is modeled on one by Cristóbal de Morales: the woodcut in the front is almost an exact copy of the one from the book by the Spanish composer.

Giambologna, born as Jean Boulogne in Douai, had received his early sculptural training in the workshop of Jacques Dubroeucq, a Flemish sculptor working in the Italian tradition.

He travels in 1554 to Rome, where he studies ancient and contemporary monuments.

Italian architect Andrea Palladio publishes his findings in a 1554 treatise, or guidebook, Le Antichita di Roma, on the antiquities of classical Rome.

Palestrina in this year publishes his first book of masses, dedicated to Pope Julius III.

The accession of Pope Paul IV heralds a return to stricter discipline in choral appointments, and Palestrina, as a married man, is obliged to vacate his post as director of the Julian Chapel Choir, taking charge of the choir at Saint John Lateran from 1555.

Roland de Lassus, a Flemish composer also known as Orlando di Lasso, had been taken to Italy at an early age.

He had already been working there for approximately ten years when, at the age of twenty-one, he was appointed choirmaster at the basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, but relinquishes the post a year and a half later to Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

Lassus enters the service of Duke Albert V of Bavaria in 1556.

Nicolas Gombert, who dies around 1560, is, together with Josquin des Prez, Jean Mouton, Palestrina, and Roland de Lassus, a noted composer of the so-called "parody masses" based on polyphonic motets, chansons, or madrigals rather than on single melodies.

Palestrina moves in 1561 from his position as director of the choir at Saint John Lateran to Santa Maria Maggiore and simultaneously holds other musical positions.

Pope Pius IV consecrates the remains of the Baths of Diocletian in 1561 as the church and monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

Michelangelo, entrusted with converting the structure into a church, prepares a design that displays great respect for the original building.

Stukley has meanwhile moved to Rome, where he has found favor with Pius, who had excommunicated Elizabeth earlier in 1571.

Under Don John, he had been given the command of three galleys at the Battle of Lepanto, and has shown great valor.

This crucial victory for the Holy League over the Ottoman Empire of Selim II allows Spain to devote more resources to its campaigns in northern Europe.

The illustrious Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, although he has received invitations to serve the emperor Maximilian II and Guglielmo, Duke of Mantua, has remained in Rome, and in 1571 returns to the Julian Chapel as director of music.