Overview
Mantua, dominated by a ducal palace of immense size and splendor for the scale of the city, feels remote and slightly melancholy, isolated in the great flat plain south of Verona and Lake Garda. The Mincio River widens at Mantua into a series of quiet, swampy lakes that surround the city on three sides. These lakes once provided the city with a powerful natural defense system but today are peaceful, visited only by slowly drifting tour boats and the occasional fisherman among the reeds.
Mantua’s origins are tied to the celebrated Roman poet Virgil, who was born nearby around 70 BC. In addition to writing the Aeneid, the story of Aeneas before the founding of Rome, Virgil composed lyrical poems about the countryside around his homeland. He wrote that Mantua had been founded by Manto, daughter of the blind Theban seer Tiresias.
Mantua first rose as an independent city and a significant power in northern Italy in 1328, when the Gonzaga family seized control after a violent struggle against the ruling Bonacolsi family. The Gonzagas ruled Mantua for 300 years, nearly as long as the Medici ruled Florence. They increased their influence through marriage alliances with powerful families such as the Viscontis of Milan and the Estes of Ferrara, through military skill, and by adeptly shifting allegiances among major powers like Milan, Venice, and Florence.
They invested their wealth in cultivating a refined and cultured court. By the 15th and 16th centuries, Mantua had become a center of artistic and intellectual achievement. Alberti, Pisanello, Mantegna, Giulio Romano, and later Rubens all worked at the Gonzaga court. Monteverdi composed the first modern opera, L’Orfeo, for the Gonzaga family in 1607.
In the early 15th century, Gianfrancesco I Gonzaga invited the humanist teacher Vittorino da Feltre to educate not only noble sons but also daughters and selected children of poorer citizens. His aim was to create a harmonious Renaissance society grounded in classical learning and moral virtue. “Not every one can excel in philosophy or the law, nor are all equally favored by nature; but all are destined to live in society and practice virtue,” he taught.
Women played an increasingly important role in Mantuan society. Isabella d’Este (1474–1539), who married Gianfrancesco II Gonzaga, often ruled the city while her husband was at war. Raised in the cultured court of Ferrara, she developed a sophisticated appreciation for art and antiquities. She collected statues, jewels, paintings, medals, and natural curiosities, including a prized “unicorn horn.” She built richly furnished rooms in her palace apartments to display her collection and hoped to attract Leonardo da Vinci as her court artist, although he never relocated to Mantua.
The height of Gonzaga supremacy ended in 1630, when Mantua was sacked by the Hapsburgs. Many of the palace’s treasures were sold off, with Charles I of England eagerly acquiring numerous masterpieces. A junior branch of the Gonzaga family remained until 1707, when the Austrians took control and incorporated Mantua into their northern Italian territories.
Walking Tour
Piazza Sordello
You are standing in the square once controlled by Mantua’s ruling families. The Piazza looks much as it did in 1328 when Luigi Gonzaga, aided by Cangrande della Scala of Verona, stormed the square and defeated the Bonacolsi. The head of the Bonacolsi family was killed near the palace doors as his loyal horse attempted to save him.
To your left stands the 13th century Bonacolsi Palace. Opposite it is the Ducal Palace, and at the head of the square is the Duomo of Mantua, whose ornate 18th century facade conceals a Renaissance interior.
The Ducal Palace has a plain and fortresslike facade. Its Gothic arcade, small defensive windows, and Ghibelline battlements (also seen in Verona) emphasize its role as both palace and stronghold. Behind this simple exterior lies a vast network of apartments, courtyards, and gardens. Over the centuries, Gonzaga rulers expanded the complex to more than 500 rooms.
The ticket office and entrance are through one of the central arches. To the right of the entrance is another archway leading to a quiet courtyard garden with grass and benches, ideal for a picnic lunch. Tours of the palace are led by Palace staff whose role is to guide visitors through the rooms, not to provide commentary, so it is helpful to orient the group in advance. Following the order of the visit, the highlights include:
The Room of the Dukes
Recently rediscovered frescoes by Pisanello (mid 15th century) depict scenes from Arthurian legends. These fragmentary images, with their knights, pale horses, elegant ladies, and delicate foliage, reflect Pisanello’s Gothic style. This style was fashionable across Europe and helped the Gonzagas align themselves politically with northern courts such as that of England’s Henry VIII. The frescoes suffered damage over time and were even concealed under plaster when the room was used as a kitchen.
The Tapestry Rooms
These rooms display nine tapestries based on Raphael’s Acts of the Apostles designs.
The Zodiac Room
The ceiling presents a dramatic 1579 map of the night sky painted deep blue with golden constellations, including the Great Bear, and Diana’s chariot drawn by hounds.
The River Room
A former banqueting hall decorated with 18th century frescoes representing the major rivers of the Gonzaga lands. The windows overlook the Hanging Gardens, an elevated courtyard with rooms beneath it.
The Archers’ Room
Decorated with playful frescoes featuring the Gonzagas’ favorite horses partly hidden behind trompe l’oeil curtains, inviting viewers to guess their identities.
The Exhibition Gallery
Once filled with paintings and sculptures, many of which were sold when the family’s fortunes declined. From the windows you can see the twisted columns of a courtyard designed by Giulio Romano, used for court performances and elaborate riding displays.
Camera degli Sposi (Mantegna’s Room)
Located in the old fortress, this is one of the greatest masterpieces of Renaissance art. Advise the group to compare Mantegna’s frescoes with Pisanello’s earlier ones. Invited to Mantua in the 1460s, Mantegna introduced the new Renaissance style, replacing Gothic delicacy with solid, three dimensional figures in vivid colors. His frescoes depict real portraits of the Gonzaga family, glorifying Ludovico Gonzaga as both a Renaissance ruler and a Roman style leader. Classical architecture appears in the background, and medallions of Roman emperors circle the upper walls, visually linking Ludovico to ancient power.
Tell the group to look up at the ceiling, where Mantegna creates a fictive dome opening onto a painted sky filled with cherubs and a peacock. Mantegna’s self portrait is hidden in the trelliswork around one door.
The Residence of the Court Dwarfs, a suite of tiny rooms with shallow stairs, is currently under restoration and closed to visitors.
Piazza dell’Erbe
With the Ducal Palace on your left, pass through the archway at the lower end of Piazza Sordello into the small Piazza Broletto. On the right stands the formidable 13th century public building after which the Piazza is named. A medieval statue of Virgil sits near the entrance, and the tower still displays the cage where criminals were held before execution.
Continue into Piazza dell’Erbe, lined with medieval buildings and home to excellent fruit stalls. Like Florence and Siena, Mantua retains its Palazzo della Ragione, the seat of civic government before the Gonzagas. It dates from the 13th century and features a tower with an astronomical clock added in the 1400s by Ludovico Gonzaga, the same duke depicted in Mantegna’s frescoes. Nearby stands the circular 11th century church of San Lorenzo.
Walk around the corner into Piazza Mantegna.
Piazza Mantegna
This is the Renaissance center of Mantua. The square is dominated by the grand basilica of Sant’Andrea, designed by Alberti in 1472, about forty years after the consecration of the dome in Florence. Alberti, deeply influenced by classical architecture, combined elements of triumphal arches and ancient temples on the facade. The church was built to house Mantua’s most sacred relic, a chalice said to contain drops of Christ’s blood given to Saint Andrew by the Roman centurion who pierced Christ’s side.
Inside the basilica, Andrea Mantegna is buried in the first chapel on the left, marked by a bronze self portrait.