We capped off what would turn out to be our last stay in Munich for the department’s program with ten days in Italy…much of it spent with the entire family as a belated celebration of our fortieth anniversary.
We took the train from Munich to Mantua…part of our ongoing quest to know the smaller Renaissance cities of northern Italy. And Mantua proved to be one of the best.
The train crosses the artificial lakes that were constructed as part of the city’s fortifications: the spires and battlements of a medieval city lie just beyond.
We got off the train at the main station, which proved to be almost deserted. The cab rank in front was empty, and no one responded to calls to the numbers listed on a sign. Sue finally went across the street to a hotel and asked them to call a cab…which worked.
We had booked a room at the Hotel Casa Poli, which proved to be a modern, hospitable, and extremely comfortable hotel on the Corso Garabaldi, about a ten minute walk from the historical center.
It was late in the day, so we took a quick orientation stroll and then followed a recommendation from the concierge to eat at the Trattoria Due Cavallini. We sat in an outdoor area under a large awning. The service was rather distant, but the food was fine if not memorable.
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!
It had been quite a trick, orchestrating the family’s arrival. We met Ariel and Daniel at the Avis counter at Malpensa, where we picked up a very nice Renault van. It wasn’t big enough for the whole crew, but both Sarah and Dan and Andrew and Emily would have their own cars. Dan and Sarah arrived at Linate, while Andrew and Emily arrived at Malpensa the next day. All three of us had nightmarish waits for our cars: it took us almost three hours!
But we were soon on the Autostrada heading southwest. Finding a rental house for the week had been quite an adventure. The kids all had votes, but I finally had to come to a decision, and we had rented a large house that was part of a medieval Borgo. The pictures didn’t give us much of an idea of what we were in for, and Sarah and Andrew didn’t hold back on expressing their dubiousness. The address was Trezzo Tinello, which was a more or less nonexistent place south of the village of Neviglie. We followed the gps to a certain point, a bend in the road, and then had to just plunge ahead up a winding vineyard road.
And sure enough, near the crest, were the gates to the Antico Borgo del Riondino. We were greeted by our hosts, Marco and his wife, who showed us the house. And we about fell over, it was so beautiful. The compound had three houses arranged around a lovely interior garden.
Ours was the manor house. Marco, an architect, had designed it himself and did much of the renovation.
There are seven spacious bedrooms, each with a private bath, two kitchens (plus an outdoor grilling kitchen on an elevated terrace), and an absolutely magnificent common room. These pictures give you some idea of the lengths to which Marco had gone to preserve the character of the building.
The common room is so large that it is hard to capture in a photograph. It includes a living area around an enormous fireplace and a huge dining area with a table that seats twelve looking out through a glass curtain wall onto the garden.
We chose a bedroom next to Sarah and Dan and the girls so that we could help out.
Ariel and Daniel picked a room in the wing of the house beyond the kitchen.
Sarah and Dan had been understandably anxious about the location of the pool. The description made it seem as if the pool room was open to the rest of the house. As it turned out, the pool was housed in a separate structure, a converted stable, across the courtyard. It was so beautiful the we had a hard time getting the girls to leave the compound!
Although the days were warm in late June, the hilltop was always cool, and even chilly at night. We spent evenings on the raised terrace, drinking wine and admiring the view over the vineyards.
We all got settled in and made a quick run into Neviglie for some provisions. Then it was off for the earliest table we could get at a restaurant in Treiso, la Ciau del Tornavento. We of course had two little ones with us, didn’t know what to expect, but plunged ahead. The restaurant is a stunning modern room with a panoramic view of the Barbaresco vineyards.
I had told them that we were bringing small children, but when we arrived they had set a long table for us in the exact center of the room–just where you see the floral display here. Yes, Italians love children.
There is a lovely terrace just past the windows, and we took turns playing with the girls outside. It was an incredible start to the week: the food was extraordinary, and the wine steward helped pick two wines: a Barolo and a Barbaresco. The Barbaresco was particularly great. It was a great evening, and we were only sorry that Andrew and Emily had missed it.
