Description
The Lago Inferiore (Lower Lake) is the last of the three lakes the Mincio forms around Mantua: the shallowest, 9 metres at most and just 3 on average, where the waters leave the city and resume their course towards the Po.
The Ponte di San Giorgio divides it from the Lago di Mezzo. At the end of the bridge opposite the Gonzaga palace stands the Rocca di Sparafucile, the only surviving building of the fortified village of San Giorgio, named after a character in Verdi's Rigoletto.
The village was almost razed to the ground by the French during the siege of 1796, when the Battle of San Giorgio pitted Napoleon's army against the Austrians right around the bridge.
Further downstream, the Masetti dam separates the lake from the Vallazza, a nature reserve in the Mincio Park, and from the lower course of the river. Since 1947 the left bank has been home to Mantua's industrial zone.
The Ponte di San Giorgio divides it from the Lago di Mezzo. At the end of the bridge opposite the Gonzaga palace stands the Rocca di Sparafucile, the only surviving building of the fortified village of San Giorgio, named after a character in Verdi's Rigoletto.
The village was almost razed to the ground by the French during the siege of 1796, when the Battle of San Giorgio pitted Napoleon's army against the Austrians right around the bridge.
Further downstream, the Masetti dam separates the lake from the Vallazza, a nature reserve in the Mincio Park, and from the lower course of the river. Since 1947 the left bank has been home to Mantua's industrial zone.