Tower of the Zuccaro

The Zuccaro Tower is a medieval structure that rises in Via Tazzoli, in the immediate vicinity of the Gonzaga Ducal Citadel and the historically main square of the city, Piazza Sordello. The local population knows it in dialect as "Tor dal Sücar", sugar tower, a custom probably originating from the linguistic deformation of the name of the family that owned it in the 16th century. Also, the Mantuan historian Davari believed that the name derived from the use of the tower, until 1769, as a salt warehouse, a mineral that in the local dialect was called sücar brüsc, sour sugar.

The tower was built in 1143. It belonged to the Da Ripalta family, then became the property of Pinamonte Bonacolsi, and subsequently of his nephew Rinaldo, and in 1314 of another Bonacolsi, Filippino called Ravazolo.
With the coup d'état of 1328, the Gonzagas took over the government of the city of Mantua and acquired the Bonacolsi possessions to their patrimony, including the tower, which would take its current name from the noble Mantuan family of Zuccaro who became its owners between the 15th and 16th centuries.

The tower suffered serious damage in 1540 due to a lightning strike that cut off the top, destroying the four large windows that lit the building. After a first restoration in 1553, the roof was rebuilt in 1717.