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Mantua
One of Lombardy’s finest cities is in the farthest reaches of the region, making it a logical addition to a trip to Venice or Parma as well as to Milan. Like its neighboring cities in Emilia-Romagna, Mantua (Mantova) owes its past greatness and its beautiful Renaissance monuments to one family, in this case the Gonzagas, who rose from peasant origins to conquer the city in 1328 and ruled benevolently until 1707.
You’ll encounter the Gonzagas—and, since they were avid collectors of art and ruled through the greatest centuries of Italian art, the treasures they collected—in the massive Palazzo Ducale that dominates much of the town center; in their refreshing suburban retreat, the Palazzo Te; and in the churches and piazze that grew up around their court.
History
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The town was founded, probably around 2000 BC, on the banks of the Mincio on a sort of island which provided natural protection. In the 6th century BC it was an Etruscan village which, in Etruscan tradition, was re-founded by Ocno. The name derives from Mantus, an Etruscan god of Hades. After being conquered by the Cenomani, a Gaul tribe, the Romans conquered it between the first and second Punic wars, confusing Mantus with Manto, a daughter of Tyresia (Tiresias). The new settlement was populated by veteran soldiers of Augustus. Mantua's most famous ancient citizen is the poet Publius Virgilius Maro, Virgil (Mantua me genuit), who was born near the city in 70 BC.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Mantua was invaded by Goths, Byzantines, Longobards and Franks. In the 11th century it became a possession of Boniface of Canossa, marquis of Toscana. The last ruler of the family was the countess Matilde of Canossa (d. 1115). According to legend, she ordered the construction of the precious "Rotonda di San Lorenzo" (1082).
After the death of Matilde of Canossa, Mantua became a free commune, and strenuously defended itself from the Holy Roman Empire in the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1198 Alberto Pitentino optimised the course of the Mincio, creating what Mantuans call "the four lakes", reinforcing the city's natural protection.
During the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, Pinamonte Bonacolsi took advantage of the chaotic situation to seize power in 1273. His family ruled Mantua for the next century, making it more prosperous and artistically beautiful. On August 16, 1328, the last Bonacolsi, Rinaldo, was overthrown in a revolt backed by the House of Gonzaga, a family of officials, namely the 60-year-old Luigi and his sons Guido, Filippino and Feltrino. Luigi Gonzaga, who had been podestà of the city in 1318, was elected "People's Captain". The Gonzaga built new walls with five gates and renovated the architecture of the city in the 14th century, but the political situation in the city did not settle until the third Gonzaga, Ludovico I of Gonzaga, eliminated his relatives, seizing power for himself.
Through a payment of 120,000 golden florins in 1433, Gianfrancesco I of Gonzaga was appointed marquis of Mantua by Emperor Sigismund, whose daughter Barbara of Brandenburg he married. In 1459 Pope Pius II held a diet in Mantua to proclaim a crusade against the Turks. Under Francesco II of Gonzaga the famous Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna worked in Mantua as court painter, producing some of his most outstanding works.
The first duke of Mantova was Federico II of Gonzaga, who acquired the title from Emperor Charles V in 1530. Federico commissioned Giulio Romano to build the famous Palazzo del Te, in the periphery of the city, and profoundly improved the urbanistic asset of the city.
In 1624 Francesco IV moved the duke's seat to a new residence, the Favorita, designed by the architect Nicolò Sebregondi.
In 1627, the direct line of the Gonzaga family came to an end with the vicious and weak Vincenzo II, and the town slowly declined under the new rulers, the Gonzaga Nevers, a cadet French branch of the family. The War of the Mantuan Succession broke out, and in 1630 an Imperial army of 36,000 Landsknecht mercenaries besieged Mantua, bringing the plague with them. Mantua never recovered from this disaster. Duke Ferdinand, an inept whose only aim was to hold parties and theatrical representations, allied with France in the Spanish Succession War. After the defeat of the latter, he took refuge in Venice carrying with him a thousand pictures. At his death, in 1708, he was declared deposed and his family lost Mantua forever in favour of the Habsburgs of Austria.
Under Austrian rule, Mantua enjoyed a revival, and during this period the Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts, the Scientific Theatre, and numerous Palaces were built.
On June 4 1796, during the Napoleonic Wars, Mantua was sieged by Napoleon as a move againts Austria, who joined the First Coalition. Austrian and Russian attempts to break the siege failed, but spread the French thin enough to abandon the siege on 31 July to fight other battles. The siege resumed on August 24. In early February the city surrendered and the region came under French administration.
After the brief French rule, Mantua returned to Austria in 1814, becoming one of the Quadrilatero fortress cities in northern Italy. Agitation against Austria cumulated in a revolt from 1851 to 1855, which was suppressed by the Austrian army. One of the most famous episodes of Italian Risorgimento took place in the small valley of Belfiore, when a group of rebels was hung by the Austrians.
In 1866, Mantua was incorporated in a united Italy by the king of Sardinia.
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Main monuments
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Basilica di S. Andrea |
A graceful Renaissance facade fronts this 15thcenturychurch by Leon Battista Alberti, with an 18th-century dome by Juvarra.The simple arches seem to float beneath the classic pediment, and the unadorned elegance forms a sharp contrast to other Lombardy monuments, such as the Duomo in Milan, the Cappella Colleoni in Bergamo, and the Certosa in Pavia.
Inside, the classically proportioned vast space is centered on a single aisle. The Gonzaga court painter Mantegna is buried in the first chapel on the left. The crypt houses a reliquary containing the blood of Christ (allegedly brought here by Longinus, the Roman soldier who thrust his spear into Jesus’ side), which is carried through town on March 18, the feast of Mantua’s patron, Sant’Anselmo.
Piazza Mantegna
Free admission
Daily 7:30am–noon and 3–7pm |
Cathedral |
On the northeast side of Piazza Sordello in Mantua stands the Cathedral of San Pietro, originally built in Romanesque style as the burial church of the marquises of Canossa and the Gonzaga family, remodeled in Gothic style between 1393 and 1401 and reconstructed internally to the design of Giulio Romano after a fire in 1545; it has fine Baroque facade (1756).
 Behind the church stands a Romanesque campanile. |
Rotonda di San Lorenzo |
Across the colonnaded Piazza delle Erbe, look for the Romanesque style Rotonda di San Lorenzo, built in the XII century. Some evidence suggests it was built on the site of a Roman temple dedicated to Venus. |
Palazzo d'Arco |
Mantua’s aristocratic D’Arco family lived in this elegant Renaissance palazzo until 1973, when the last member of the family donated it to the city. Though most of the extant palazzo is neoclassical (1780s), the gardens shelter a wing from the 15th century; the highlight of the rooms is the Sala dello Zodiaco, brilliantly frescoed with astrological signs by Giovanni Falconetto in 1520.
Piazza d’Arco 4
Tel. 0376-322-242
Admission 3€ |
s. Sebastiano |
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S. Francesco |
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S. Barnaba |
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S. Maurizio |
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Teatro scientifico |
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Castel s. Giorgio |
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Palazzo Ducale |
Behind the walls of this massive fortress/palace lies the history of the Gonzagas, Mantua’s most powerful family, and what remains of the treasure trove they amassed in a rule that began in 1328 and lasted into the early 18th century. Between their skills as warriors and their penchant for marrying into wealthier and more cultured houses, they managed to acquire power, money, and an artistic following that included Pisanello, Titian, and most notably Andrea Mantegna, their court painter, who spent most of his career working for his Mantua patrons.
The most fortunate of these unions was that of Francesco Gonzaga to Isabelle d’Este in 1490. This well-bred daughter of Ferrara’s Este clan commissioned many of the art-filled frescoed apartments you see today, including the Camera degli Sposi in Isabella’s apartments—the masterpiece, and only remaining fresco cycle, of Mantegna. It took the artist 9 years to complete the cycle, and in it, he included many of the visitors to the court; it’s a fascinating account of late-15thcentury court life.
Most of Mantegna’s works for the palace, though, have been carted off to other collections; his famous Parnassus, which he painted for an intimate room known as the studiolo, is now in the Louvre, as are works that Perugino and Corregio painted for the same room (in one of the more compelling current stories from the art world, Mantua is demanding their return).
The Gonzagas expanded their palace by incorporating any structure that lay within reach, including the Duomo and the Castello di San Giorgio (1396– 1406). As a result, it’s now a small city of 500 rooms connected by a labyrinth of corridors, ramps, courtyards, and staircases, filled with Renaissance frescoes and ancient Roman sculpture. The Sala del Pisanello frescoes feature Arthurian legends (mostly Tristan and Isolde) painted by Pisanello between 1436 and 1444, which were discovered beneath layers of plaster only in 1969. The Salle degli Arazzi (Tapestry Rooms) are hung with copies—woven at the same time but by a different Flemish workshop—of the Vatican’s tapestries designed by Raphael and his students (among them Giulio Romano). The Camera degli Sposi was frescoed by Mantegna (the trompe l’oeil oculus in the center of the ceiling is an icon of Renaissance art and a masterpiece of foreshortening). Other highlights include the Galleria degli Specchi (Hall of Mirrors); the lowceiling Appartemento dei Nani (Apartments of the Dwarfs), where a replica of the Holy Staircase in the Vatican is built to miniature scale (in keeping with noble custom of the time, dwarfs were part of Isabella’s court); and the Galleria dei Mesi (Hall of the Months).
Some of the mostly delightful chambers in the vast complex make up the Appartemento Estivale (Summer Apartment), which looks over a courtyard where hanging gardens provide the greenery.
Piazza Sordello
Tel. 0376-382-150
Admission 6.50€
Tues–Sun 8:45am–7:15pm |
Palazzo del te |
Federico Gonzaga, the pleasure-loving refined son of Isabella d’Este, built this splendid Mannerist palace as a retreat from court life. As soon as you enter the courtyard, you’ll see that the purpose of this palace was to amuse—the keystone of the monumental archway is designed to look like it’s falling out of place. Throughout the lovely whimsical interior, sexually frank frescoes (by Giulio Romano, who left a scandal behind him in Rome that arose over his licentious engravings) depict Psyche and other erotically charged subject matter and make unsubtle reference to one of Frederico’s favorite pastimes (horses and astrology, Frederico’s other passions, also figure prominently). The greatest and most playful achievement here, though, has to do with power: In the Sala dei Giganti (Room of the Giants) , Titan is overthrown by the gods in a dizzying play of architectural proportion that gives the illusion that the ceiling is falling.
The palazzo is a 20-minute walk from the center of town along Via Mazzini.
En route, at Via Acerbi 47, sits Casa di Mantegna, the house and studio of Andrea Mantegna.
Admission is free, so devotees of Mantua’s most famous painter may choose to stop by for a look.
Viale Te
Tel. 0376-323-266
Admission 8€ adults, 2.50€ ages 12–18 and seniors over 65; free under 12.
Mon 1–6pm; Tues–Sun 9am–6pm.
Box office closes a half-hour earlier |
Palazzo della Ragione |
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History