Description
The Lago di Mezzo (Middle Lake) is the smallest of Mantua's three lakes, the stretch of water in which the Gonzagas' Castle of San Giorgio is reflected. Small but deep: at 15 metres, it is the deepest of the three.
The lake lies between two bridges. Upstream, the Ponte dei Mulini separates it from the Lago Superiore, which sits three metres higher; downstream, the Ponte di San Giorgio divides it from the Lago Inferiore.
The San Giorgio bridge was first built of wood at the end of the 12th century, when the engineer Alberto Pitentino turned the marshes around the city into today's lakes. It was later rebuilt in masonry, roofed over and fitted with a drawbridge for boats, until 1922, when its arches were filled in.
The bridge appears in the background of Andrea Mantegna's Death of the Virgin, now in the Prado in Madrid.
In the waters of the lake grows a local rarity, the trigol, or water chestnut, whose edible fruits are harvested in late autumn.
The lake lies between two bridges. Upstream, the Ponte dei Mulini separates it from the Lago Superiore, which sits three metres higher; downstream, the Ponte di San Giorgio divides it from the Lago Inferiore.
The San Giorgio bridge was first built of wood at the end of the 12th century, when the engineer Alberto Pitentino turned the marshes around the city into today's lakes. It was later rebuilt in masonry, roofed over and fitted with a drawbridge for boats, until 1922, when its arches were filled in.
The bridge appears in the background of Andrea Mantegna's Death of the Virgin, now in the Prado in Madrid.
In the waters of the lake grows a local rarity, the trigol, or water chestnut, whose edible fruits are harvested in late autumn.