Description
The Palazzo del Podestà, also known as the Broletto, is the medieval palace that separates Piazza delle Erbe from Piazza Broletto, in the centre of Mantua. For centuries it was the heart of the city's government, and since 2024 it has housed the Museo Virgilio, dedicated to the poet.
The palace closes one of the short sides of Piazza delle Erbe, to which it turns its back: the main façade faces Piazza Broletto.
On the façade, in a niche, is the thing not to miss: the 13th-century statue of Virgil enthroned. The poet wears a doctor's cap and rests his arms on a lectern bearing the inscription "Virgilius Mantuanus poetarum clarissimus". Mantuans call it "la vècia", the old woman, in their dialect.
The palace shows two clearly recognisable souls: a medieval one, plainer and rougher, and a 15th-century one, in the Tuscan taste. To the latter belong the blind battlements running along the top of the building, linked to the style of Luca Fancelli.
At the corner, the two triple-arched windows and the loggia above the archway are what remains of the Arengario, which linked it to the former Magazzini Generali building. On the Piazza delle Erbe side, the palace is joined to the Palazzo della Ragione.
It was built in 1227 by Laudarengo Martinengo from Brescia, then podestà of Mantua. Together with the nearby Torre del Broletto, against which Casa Tortelli leans, it was the administrative centre of the commune.
Fires damaged it several times over the centuries. From 1462 Marquis Ludovico Gonzaga had it thoroughly renovated by the architect Giovanni Antonio da Arezzo.
Over the last three centuries it has had all kinds of uses, including as a prison. On 7 December 2024 the Museo Virgilio opened, giving part of the historic palace back to the public: a tribute to the poet right next to the statue Mantuans have known for centuries.
The palace closes one of the short sides of Piazza delle Erbe, to which it turns its back: the main façade faces Piazza Broletto.
On the façade, in a niche, is the thing not to miss: the 13th-century statue of Virgil enthroned. The poet wears a doctor's cap and rests his arms on a lectern bearing the inscription "Virgilius Mantuanus poetarum clarissimus". Mantuans call it "la vècia", the old woman, in their dialect.
The palace shows two clearly recognisable souls: a medieval one, plainer and rougher, and a 15th-century one, in the Tuscan taste. To the latter belong the blind battlements running along the top of the building, linked to the style of Luca Fancelli.
At the corner, the two triple-arched windows and the loggia above the archway are what remains of the Arengario, which linked it to the former Magazzini Generali building. On the Piazza delle Erbe side, the palace is joined to the Palazzo della Ragione.
It was built in 1227 by Laudarengo Martinengo from Brescia, then podestà of Mantua. Together with the nearby Torre del Broletto, against which Casa Tortelli leans, it was the administrative centre of the commune.
Fires damaged it several times over the centuries. From 1462 Marquis Ludovico Gonzaga had it thoroughly renovated by the architect Giovanni Antonio da Arezzo.
Over the last three centuries it has had all kinds of uses, including as a prison. On 7 December 2024 the Museo Virgilio opened, giving part of the historic palace back to the public: a tribute to the poet right next to the statue Mantuans have known for centuries.