Relations between the Gonzaga and Este families were close, and in the early 1550s Wert traveled at least once to Mantua and Ferrara, centers of musical activity in the late sixteenth century, where he met the renowned madrigalist Cipriano de Rore, who was the most influential figure on his early musical style. While in Novellara, Wert married Lucrezia Gonzaga and raised a family, having at least six children. Wert stayed in Novellara until the early 1560s, at which time he accepted the position of "maestro di cappella" for the main Gonzaga chapel in Milan; however, he did not stay long there, moving in 1565 to Mantua where he became "maestro di cappella" at the chapel of Santa Barbara.