Il Rio
The Rio is the canal that runs through the center of Mantua from one lake to the other, from Lake Superiore to Lake Inferiore: a ribbon of water squeezed between the houses, cutting the old town in two.
It was laid out in 1190 by the...
Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere ed Arti
The Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana is Mantua's historic academy of sciences, letters and arts, housed in a neoclassical palazzo on Via Accademia, in the historic center: inside is the 18th-century theater of the Bibiena.
The palazzo,...
House of Blessed Osanna Andreasi
The Casa della Beata Osanna Andreasi is a 15th-century patrician home on Via Frattini, in the center of Mantua: the house where Osanna Andreasi lived, a Dominican mystic and adviser to the Gonzaga, kept almost intact as a place of her...
Church of Santa Maria del Gradaro
The Church of Santa Maria del Gradaro is a Romanesque-Gothic church in Mantua, on Via Gradaro, just back from Lake Inferiore: begun in 1256, it is one of the finest examples of the city's medieval sacred art.
The asymmetrical gabled façade...
Church of Santa Paola
The Church of Santa Paola is a 15th-century Gothic church in the center of Mantua, tied to a famous name: Isabella d'Este, the great Marchioness of Mantua, was buried here beside her husband Francesco II Gonzaga.
It was commissioned by...
House of Giulio Romano
The House of Giulio Romano is the palazzo that the Gonzaga's great architect designed for himself on Via Carlo Poma, in the center of Mantua, opposite the church of San Barnaba: one of the first houses an artist ever designed to live in. It is...
Piazza Canossa
Piazza Canossa is a small pedestrian square in the historic center of Mantua, where Via Fratelli Bandiera, Via Verdi and Via Fernelli meet: a quiet corner between a Baroque palazzo, a little church and an Art Nouveau kiosk.
Its most...
Torre dello Zuccaro
The Torre dello Zuccaro is a medieval brick tower more than 42 meters tall on Via Tazzoli, a few steps from Piazza Sordello and the Ducal Palace: built in 1143, it belonged to the Bonacolsi and then, from 1328, to the Gonzaga.
You can't go...
San Giorgio Bridge
The Ponte di San Giorgio is the long bridge, about 800 meters, that separates Lake Mezzo from Lake Inferiore, linking the center of Mantua, on the side of the Gonzaga palace, with the opposite shore at San Giorgio.
It was first built of...
Gallery "Arte e Arti"
The “Arte e Arti” Gallery is the art collection of the Mantua Chamber of Commerce, displayed at its headquarters on Via Calvi, Palazzo Andreani: an eclectic building, somewhere between Art Nouveau and Gothic Revival, inaugurated in 1914 as the...
Numismatic Museum
Museum of Numismatics: with its 2160 pieces in gold, silver and bronze the coin collection of Banca Agricola Mantovana is the most complete collection in the world, along with that of italian king Vittorio Emanuele II, of coins and medals issued...
Palazzo Canossa
Palazzo Canossa is the Baroque residence of the Marquises Canossa, overlooking the square of the same name in the center of Mantua: you spot it at once by the two marble dogs gnawing a bone beneath the balcony over the doorway.
The dog is...
Bishop's Palace
The Bishop's Palace, also called Palazzo Bianchi, is the residence of the Bishop of Mantua, on Piazza Sordello next to the Cathedral: an 18th-century palazzo you recognize from the square by the two great telamons holding up the...
Palazzo Cavriani
Palazzo Cavriani is a large 18th-century palazzo on Via Trento, in the center of Mantua, best known for what stands in front of it: a garden enclosed by a railing with thirteen busts of illustrious Mantuans and, in the middle, a statue of...
Virgil's Shrine
The Edicola di Virgilio is the niche between two columns on the façade of the Palazzo del Podestà facing Piazza Broletto, in the medieval heart of Mantua: inside sits the poet of the Aeneid, a son of the city, carved in the 13th...
Porto Catena
Piazza Castello
Piazza Castello is the square that opens up inside the Ducal Palace of Mantua, the Gonzaga palace: a space enclosed by porticoes, next to the Castle of San Giorgio, once called the Prato di Castello.
It was designed in the 16th century by...