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The Herbs Square
Real heart of the city it takes its name for being the market place since the Middle Ages. Today it still hosts part of the weekly market on Thursdays. Here you can see the beautiful Palazzo della Ragione (the palace of justice) that was built soon after the Mayor’s Palace. The palace was later added a portico and a tower called Torre dell’Orologio (clock tower) with an interesting clock projected by Bartolomeo Manfredi, Francesco Gonzaga’s court astrologist and mathematician. Precious to the people of Mantua it was used for making horoscopes or just regulating the everyday life.

Beside it, the oldest church in town called La Rotonda. Dedicated to St. Lawrence and commissioned by Matilde of Canossa it was built in 1082. One of the very few circular churches surviving it has a long interesting history and is a fine example of Romanesque architecture. Below street level it was probably built upon the rests of a pagan temple. Inside, an enchanting atmosphere and decorations dating back to the Byzantine period.

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Piazza Sordello originally named piazza S.Pietro, the very first nucleus of Mantua, was the scene of the coup d’état of August the 16th 1328 when the Gonzaga family took over the power of the city from the Bonacolsi family, rulers of Mantua since 1272. The Gonzaga family ruled for nearly four-hundred years up to 1707 when the city passed under the Austrian government. The Gonzaga’s built The Ducal Palace, the largest court in Europe covering 34.0000 square meters with over 500 rooms, 15 open spaces among gardens and courtyards. A real city within the city, magnificent   and enchanting.

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Piazza Sordello originally named piazza S.Pietro, the very first nucleus of Mantua, was the scene of the coup d’état of August the 16th 1328 when the Gonzaga family took over the power of the city from the Bonacolsi family, rulers of Mantua since 1272. The Gonzaga family ruled for nearly four-hundred years up to 1707 when the city passed under the Austrian government. The Gonzaga’s built The Ducal Palace, the largest court in Europe covering 34.0000 square meters with over 500 rooms, 15 open spaces among gardens and courtyards. A real city within the city, magnificent   and enchanting.

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THE BRINDAL CHAMBER

Absolute masterpiece of the Renaissance the Camera Picta (Painted Room) is placed in the north-eastern part of the Castle. Painted by Andrea Mantegna within nine years from 1465 to 1474 (both starting and finishing dates are written on the walls) combines reality and fiction giving the room an ‘en plain air’ atmosphere and making it look like a loggia. The space of each wall has been divided by Mantegna into three openings showing, through wide arches, landscapes and curtains moving in the wind, in contrast with the confined architectural space. The frescos represent two scenes portraying the members of the Gonzaga family, the ‘meeting scene’ and the ‘court scene’. With these paintings Mantegna celebrated his Lords and the prestige of Mantua

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THE CASTLE OF St.GEORGE
The castle of St. George is one of the most representative monuments of the city of Mantua and is part of the Gonzaga Palace. The castle is a square building made up of four towers and surrounded by a deep and wide moat.

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WHERE NAPOLEON SLEPT

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The hall of mirrors

The mirror room is beautiful and it was the ballroom; guests was proposed a game: it stared picture and walked from right to left by noting that its position changes to an optical effect; these things at that time seemed to forms of magic and luxury; the mirrors were added at later dates.

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ROOM OF THE DWARVES
The huge building is full of amazing accomplishments and curiosity. One of the most unusual is made from the "Dwarf", that is, from the rooms in which they lived the dwarfs of the court. It is a series of environments adapted, in the dimensions and stage effects, the size of the occupant. Contrary to common belief, the dwarves were not despised or ridiculed the contrary, enjoyed considerable consideration and not a secondary social position, and carried out the duties of trusted servants, but also of musicians or artists. And sometimes their tiny bedrooms were used as a secure location for amorous encounters of sovereigns or courtiers.

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THE PALACE LABYRINTH - Although it is known as a palace, Mantua complex is actually a maze of buildings, tunnels, stairways, ladders, steps, hallways. Even it includes a large castle, fifteen squares, gardens, courtyards and a large church.

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THE PALACE LABYRINTH - Although it is known as a palace, Mantua complex is actually a maze of buildings, tunnels, stairways, ladders, steps, hallways. Even it includes a large castle, fifteen squares, gardens, courtyards and a large church.

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THE PALACE OF ISABELLA D'ESTE - The Ducal Palace in Mantua, built around the Dynasty castle, situated close to two of the three lakes surrounding the city grew over the centuries to become a giant complex of well 34,000 meters square surface. It is a real "city in the form of building", as has been said, it consists of several separate buildings for style, structure, characteristics and age, with more than 550 rooms, internal squares, gardens, porches connected by corridors, passages and lobbies of all kinds. And it is also, so to speak, an immense, spectacular artistic container

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THE DUCAL PALACE
In 1490 Isabella d'Este married Francesco II Gonzaga, lord of Mantua. He soon turned the court into an artistic forge, leaving its decisive character in the arrangement of the building and in the development of Renaissance culture.

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The Ducal Palace Was the main residence of the Gonzaga family, lords, marquises and finally Dukes of the city. Under the Austrian domination with Maria Teresa of Austria it was called Palazzo Reale  (Royal Palace)The palace was built in different times starting from the 13th century, first by the Bonacolsi’s and then by the Gonzaga’s. Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga in the second half of the 16th century  started to give a unity to the buildings up to then detached one from the other. The task was given to the Chief of the Buildings Giovan Battista Bertani who created an enormous imposing complex (34.000 square meters) spreading from Piazza Sordello to the inferior lake. After Bertani’s death the works were carried on by Bernardino Facciotto who completed the unification of gardens, squares, loggias, galleries, exedras and courtyards giving the palace its final structure.The inside is now almost completely empty, the Gonzaga family being forced to sell their art collections to the king of England first, and the rest of their belongings being sacked in 1630 and finally taken away by Napoleon.

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The Ducal Palace Was the main residence of the Gonzaga family, lords, marquises and finally Dukes of the city. Under the Austrian domination with Maria Teresa of Austria it was called Palazzo Reale  (Royal Palace)The palace was built in different times starting from the 13th century, first by the Bonacolsi’s and then by the Gonzaga’s. Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga in the second half of the 16th century  started to give a unity to the buildings up to then detached one from the other. The task was given to the Chief of the Buildings Giovan Battista Bertani who created an enormous imposing complex (34.000 square meters) spreading from Piazza Sordello to the inferior lake. After Bertani’s death the works were carried on by Bernardino Facciotto who completed the unification of gardens, squares, loggias, galleries, exedras and courtyards giving the palace its final structure.The inside is now almost completely empty, the Gonzaga family being forced to sell their art collections to the king of England first, and the rest of their belongings being sacked in 1630 and finally taken away by Napoleon.

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Tour of Mantua

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A Tour of Mantua, Italy including the Ducal Palace

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https://www.europeanwaterways.com - A Visit to Mantua, Italy including the Ducal Palace. Our cruise has a dramatic approach to Mantua, home of the poet Virgil, artists Mantegna and Donatello and a captivating lakeside setting. Mantua displays extraordinary neo-classical and baroque architecture, portrayed in the 14thC Ducal Palace housing some 15 gardens and courtyards, a museum, basilica and theatre.

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Located at the center of the Po Valley, the city of Mantova it was from its origins surrounded by water. His first settlements developed, probably already at the time of the Etruscans, in an area corresponding to the current Piazza Sordello. But it was the Gonzaga, from the fourteenth century, which gave a strong cultural and artistic impulse to the city, outlining the current urban and architectural structure. During the four centuries of the kingdom, the lords of Mantua hosted at court the most illustrious artists such as Leon Battista Alberti, Pisanello, Andrea Mantegna, Giulio Romano, Rubens and others, whose works still characterize the city in all its glory .

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Located at the center of the Po Valley, the city of Mantova it was from its origins surrounded by water. His first settlements developed, probably already at the time of the Etruscans, in an area corresponding to the current Piazza Sordello. But it was the Gonzaga, from the fourteenth century, which gave a strong cultural and artistic impulse to the city, outlining the current urban and architectural structure. During the four centuries of the kingdom, the lords of Mantua hosted at court the most illustrious artists such as Leon Battista Alberti, Pisanello, Andrea Mantegna, Giulio Romano, Rubens and others, whose works still characterize the city in all its glory .

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Arriving in Mantua he is struck by its charm unchanged over time , with a unique atmosphere and friendly that you breathe . A city that takes your breath away when you can admire the banks of the lakes . From here it appears as if suspended over the water , the protagonist of an almost surreal landscape of history, art , nature .

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Mantua

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Lombardia region

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Hi everybody , we are the fourth class B primary school of Castel d' Ario , in Mantua , Italy.
In May 11, 2016 we went to visit some art treasures of Mantua , and we want to share with you our city .