MANTOVA
Since 2008 in the list of the Unesco World Heritage ( with Sabbioneta)
The Italian Capital of Culture in 2016
The most livable city in Italy (2016)
Awarded as one of the cities of ERG (European Region of Gastronomy) in
2017
The city of Mantova, rising from the waters of three lakes, has a wonderful skyline of ancient towers, domes and turrets that hasn't change since the Middle Age.
It takes only 30 minutes to walk across the town, so you can visit it on foot, with the help of a qualified tourist guide.
Strolling in the streets and the squares you can relax sitting outside at a table-bar having a cup of espresso coffee.
Don't loose our Mantuan speciality foods, such as the famous Tortelli di Zucca (pasta filled with pumpkin), Mostarda ( boiled spicy fruit, especially apples) to be eaten with cheese, Sbrisolona (a cramble cake made with almonds).
Duration about 2h
Piazza Sordello is a grandiose cobbled square of Mantova, surrounded by medieval buildings such as Palazzo Ducale (the Ducal Palace) and the Duomo of St. Peter with its romanesque bell-tower. Just at the end of the square, you can visit Rigoletto's House,a little medieval building dedicated to the main character of the opera lirica by Giuseppe Verdi.
Piazza Broletto was the more important square in the Middle Age and Palazzo del Podestà, built in the first half of 1200, is opening onto it.
Piazza delle Erbe, the old market place, is surrounded with arched portico where today, like in the past, you can find many shops and ancient merchant houses. Palazzo della Ragione, the court of justice in the past, the 1400 Clock Tower with an astronomical/astrological clock still working and the 11th century Rotonda di San Lorenzo, the oldest church of Mantova, whose round shape was inspired by the Holy Sepulchre in the basilica of Jerusalem, will take you back in the past.
Next square, just round the corner, is situated the most prestigious church of Mantova, the basilica of Sant'Andrea, designed by the Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti in 1472.
Historical City Centre
Also known as Teatro Scientifico, it was designed by the architect and scenographer Antonio Galli Bibiena in 1767.
It is a baroque bell- shaped opera theatre, with a perfect acoustics, all surrounded by floors of wooden boxes frescoed by Bibiena himself with monochrome figures.
The theatre was finished in 1769; on January 1770 the young musician Amadeus Mozart played here a concert that achieved resounding success.
Leopold Mozart, Amadeus' father, said that this was the most beautiful opera theatre he had ever seen.
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Tarifs visites guidees
Bibiena Theatre
Palazzo Ducale
Duration about 2h
The Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace) has been called "a city in the city of Mantova"; it is one of the largest residences in Europe, on a surface of 35.000 square metres with 950 rooms.
For about four centuries it was the home of the lords of Mantova, the Gonzagas, who ruled until 1708.
The magnificent Palazzo Ducale of Mantova includes the Castello di San Giorgio ( Castle of St. George) where the painter Andrea Mantegna frescoed the "Camera degli Sposi" ( the Bridal Chamber") in 1465.
A palatine church, fifteen inner courtyards and gardens ( two of them are hanging gardens), a Mirror Gallery, the Zodiac Room, a set of nine tapestries woven in 1500 from Raffaello' s cartoons and masterpieces by Pisanello, Rubens, Giulio Romano, Lorenzo Costa are still kept in this amazing court.
Informations pratiques
Informations pratiques
Palazzo Te
Tarifs visites guidees
Duration 1h30 min
A countryside pleasure palace, designed in 1525 by the architect and painter Giulio Romano, Raffaello's best pupil.
Palazzo Te was built on the island Te, which was in the middle of the fourth lake of Mantova, dried up in 1700.
The entrance of Palazzo Te is a vast square cloistered courtyard.
All the rooms inside have the original and well preserved frescoes by Giulio Romano: from the Room of the Horses, where the most beautiful horses of the dukes Gonzagas are immortalized in their nobility and pride, to the Room of Eros and Psyche, where one of the best love story in classical mythology is painted on the walls and on the ceiling.
The astonishing Room of the Giants is an envolving scenography where Jupiter is hurling thunderbolts against the rebel giants who are defeated under falling rocks and collapsing buildings.
Informations pratiques
Sabbioneta
Tarifs visites guidees
Duration about 1h45 min
Sabbioneta was created in the second half of the 16th century under the rule of its founder, duke Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna, according to the Renaissance principles of the " Ideal City".
Sabbioneta has an hexagonal layout of the external walls that contain inside a Palazzo Ducale (the Ducal Palace), a villa (Palazzo Giardino) that is linked to the third longest Italian gallery, the Galleria degli Antichi o Corridor Grande ( Gallery of the Ancestors).
Not to be missed in Sabbioneta is the Teatro Olimpico (Olympic Theatre), designed in 1588 by Vincenzo Scamozzi, formerly assistant of architect Andrea Palladio at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza.
In Sabbioneta, Vespasiano gave hospitality to a small Jewish community, this is why a synagogue is still available for visits.
When he died in 1591, Vespasiano was buried in the Chiesa della Beata Vergine Incoronata. Inside this mausoleum, a bronze statue by the sculptor Leone Leoni representing Vespasiano as a Roman emperor, is placed on a fine marble tomb.