The Best Museums & Art Galleries in Mantua – Mus3ums

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Mantua / Italy

Mantua ; Lombard and Latin: Mantua) is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the European Capital of Gastronomy, included in the Eastern Lombardy District . In 2007, Mantua's centro storico and Sabbioneta were declared by UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family has made it one of the main artistic, cultural, and especially musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole. Mantua is noted for its significant role in the history of opera; the city is also known for its architectural treasures and artifacts, elegant palaces, and the medieval and Renaissance cityscape. It is the city where the composer Monteverdi premiered his opera L'Orfeo and to where Romeo was banished in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It is the nearest town to the birthplace of the Roman poet Virgil, who is commemorated by a statue at the lakeside park "Piazza Virgiliana". Mantua is surrounded on three sides by artificial lakes, created during the 12th century as the city's defence system. These lakes receive water from the Mincio River, a tributary of the Po River which descends from Lake Garda. The three lakes are called Lago Superiore, Lago di Mezzo, and Lago Inferiore . A fourth lake, Lake Pajolo, which once served as a defensive water ring around the city, dried up at the end of the 18th century. The area and its environs are important not only in naturalistic terms, but also anthropologically and historically; research has highlighted a number of human settlements scattered between Barche di Solferino and Bande di Cavriana, Castellaro and Isolone del Mincio. These dated, without interruption, from Neolithic times to the Bronze Age and the Gallic phases , and ended with Roman residential settlements, which could be traced to the 3rd century AD. In 2017, Legambiente ranked Mantua as the best Italian city for the quality of the life and environment.

Palazzo D'Arco, Mantua

The Palazzo D'Arco is a Neoclassical-style palace located on Piazza Carlo D'Arco #4 in Mantua, region of Lombardy, Italy. The palace houses the Museo di Palazzo d'Arco, which displays the furnishings and artwork collected by the Duke D'Arco.

Ducal Palace, Mantua

The Palazzo Ducale di Mantova is a group of buildings in Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy, built between the 14th and the 17th century mainly by the noble family of Gonzaga as their royal residence in the capital of their Duchy. The buildings are connected by corridors and galleries and are enriched by inner courts and wide gardens. The complex includes some 500 rooms and occupies an area of c. 34,000 m². Although most famous for Mantegna's frescos in the Camera degli Sposi , they have many other very significant architectural and painted elements. The Gonzaga family lived in the palace from 1328 to 1707, when the dynasty died out. Subsequently, the buildings saw a sharp decline, which was halted in the 20th century with a continuing process of restoration and the designation of the area as museum. In 1998, a hidden room was discovered by Palace scholars, led by musicologist Paula Bezzutti. The room is thought to have been used for performances of Monteverdi's music in the late 16th century.

Palazzo del Te or Palazzo Te is a palace in the suburbs of Mantua, Italy. It is a fine example of the mannerist style of architecture, and the acknowledged masterpiece of Giulio Romano. Although formed in Italian, the usual name in English of Palazzo del Te is not that now used by Italians. The official modern name, and by far the most common name in Italian, is Palazzo Te. The English name arises because Vasari calls it the "Palazzo Del T", and English-speaking writers, especially art historians, still most often call it "Palazzo del Te".

Basilica of Sant'Andrea, Mantua

The Basilica of Sant'Andrea is a Roman Catholic co-cathedral and minor basilica in Mantua, Lombardy . It is one of the major works of 15th-century Renaissance architecture in Northern Italy. Commissioned by Ludovico III Gonzaga, the church was begun in 1472 according to designs by Leon Battista Alberti on a site occupied by a Benedictine monastery, of which the bell tower remains. The building, however, was only finished 328 years later. Though later changes and expansions altered Alberti's design, the church is still considered to be one of Alberti's most complete works. It looms over the Piazza Mantegna.

San Francesco, Mantua

The Chiesa di San Francesco is a Roman Catholic church located in the historic center of Mantua, Italy, at Piazza San Francesco d'Assisi 5. The church was founded by the Franciscan Order in 1304 but it was not consecrated until 1459, when Pope Pius II performed the ceremony. Suppressed in 1782, it was sacked in 1797, during the Napoleonic Wars, and turned into an arsenal in 1811. Still in military use when World War II began, it was devastated by bombardment during the war. The Cappella Gonzaga, with its frescoes depicting the life of St. Louis of Toulouse , was saved and recently restored. These frescoes were supposed to have been painted by Serafino de' Serafini, an artist who was active in Modena during the 14th Century. The church was reconstructed in Romanesque and Gothic styles. Now visible are some of the original frescoes depicting St. Francis Receives the Stigmata by Stefano da Verona. Andrea Mantegna's work St. Bernardino of Siena between Two Angels was originally here but it is now at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy. In the Cappella Gonzaga, built between 1369 and 1484, were buried: Guido Gonzaga, 2nd capitano del popolo of Mantua. Ludovico II Gonzaga, 3rd capitano del popolo of Mantua. Francesco I Gonzaga, 4th capitano del popolo of Mantua. Margherita Malatesta, second wife of Francesco I Gonzaga. Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, 5th capitano del popolo of Mantua. Rodolfo Gonzaga, son of Ludovico III, 2nd Marquis of Mantua. Francesco Cardinal Gonzaga, son of Ludovico III, 2nd Marquis of Mantua.Also at the church were buried other notables: Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, the condottiero, buried in full armor in 1526. Blessed Alberto Gonzaga in 1321. Guido Torelli, the founder of the noble family of Torelli, in 1449. Cristoforo I Torelli, son of Guido, in 1460. Francesco Secco, the condottiero who owned the family chapel, in 1496.

Basilica palatina di Santa Barbara

The Basilika Palatina di Santa Barbara is the Palatine Chapel of the House of Gonzaga in Mantua, Italy.

Palazzo D'Arco, Mantua

The Palazzo D'Arco is a Neoclassical-style palace located on Piazza Carlo D'Arco #4 in Mantua, region of Lombardy, Italy. The palace houses the Museo di Palazzo d'Arco, which displays the furnishings and artwork collected by the Duke D'Arco.

Palazzo del Te or Palazzo Te is a palace in the suburbs of Mantua, Italy. It is a fine example of the mannerist style of architecture, and the acknowledged masterpiece of Giulio Romano. Although formed in Italian, the usual name in English of Palazzo del Te is not that now used by Italians. The official modern name, and by far the most common name in Italian, is Palazzo Te. The English name arises because Vasari calls it the "Palazzo Del T", and English-speaking writers, especially art historians, still most often call it "Palazzo del Te".