We passed through arched and arcaded medieval streets on our way into the center of town.
Our destination was the Piazza Sardello, an elongated rectangle with the Ducal Palace on the east and the marble Renaissance Cathedral forming the Northern face.
The palace is Mantua’s most famous site, and we thought we had better start there. The palace is a sprawling–indeed bewildering–complex of buildings and courtyards, built between the 14th an 18th centuries by the Gonzaga family. One enters into the Corte Vecchia, the oldest part of the palace; many rooms have been restored and furnished.
We were soon thoroughly lost as we wandered through buildings and courtyards.
We finally, after a lot of false turns and retracing of steps, found our way to the Castle of Saint George, the building that houses the palace’s best know room, the Camera degli Sposi painted by Andrea Mategna between 1465 and 1474.
The frescos are quite wonderful.
But perhaps the most memorable aspect of the room is its illusionistic oculus.
We had hoped to see the cathedral afterwards, but it had gone the way of so many Italian churches: it was closed from noon until 3.
It was a pretty hot day, but we decided to walk through the old town to its other end and visit the Palazzo Te, a pleasure palace built for Federico II Gonzaga between 1524 and 1534 by Guilio Romano, a pupil of Raphael. When it was built, the villa was outside the city walls and on an islet at the edge of the marshes.
The villa is built as a square around a cloistered inner courtyard.
The entire villa is painted with frescos, some by Romano; the ones in the Room of the Giants are particularly striking.
We had lunch at a lovely, casual bistro carved out of an old bank building and then strolled back into the center. We can highly recommend Mantua as a strolling city. There is almost no tourism, and you’re often welcomed as if you were a local.
We visited the other grand square, the Piazza della Erbe, where we got a phone call from Lisa B, mother of our soon to be daughter in law Emily. We enjoyed a nice chat focused on how wonderful our respective children were.
We did finally make it to the cathedral!
We stopped on the way back to the hotel for a drink…and were plied with piles of nibbles to accompany our Spritz…we’re still in the Veneto, after all.
We were on the train to Milan by late afternoon, headed to our home away from home, the Sheraton Malpensa. I don’t like to think about how many nights we’ve spent here…but it is certainly convenient!