He finally went to Mantua

Updated 10/17/2025

Mantua, 10/14/2025 - 10/17/2025

Impressions: Smallest city so far, in fact upon arrival I thought I might have made a mistake in coming. The side streets are all cobblestoned and quiet, except right around the cathedral and duke's palace.

While Brescia certainly had foreign tourists their presence didn't really jump out at me. Here it's different - for a small city I was surprised at the amount of foreign tourism, especially among the older crowd. Turns out the main cathedral here has a catholic relic hidden away in its basement - soil, supposedly from Calvary and soaked in the blood of Christ.

That explains both the tourism and the elaborate cathedral, which at first seemed way out of scale with the city it's in.

Piazza in Mantua — Apologies for the weird filtered look to the lighting. My phone did something odd with this one.

One advantage of a smaller town is you can get great food for a reasonable price! Duck leg with caramelized onions and a half liter of prosecco for €20.

View towards Sant'Andrea cathedral — View towards the Basilica of St. Andrea

Small church in Mantua — Look at this little guy! Only fits 20 or 30 people but the outside is charming.

Side street in Mantua — Picturesque as hell!

Another side street in Mantua — But where are the people? Am I in the Twilight Zone?

Accommodations

Well, you can't win them all. This one is freshly remodeled (in fact some of the cookware was still unopened), with a super cute matchy-matchy kitchen and well done bath and bedroom (depending on your taste). It's also plenty close to everything. However it's tiny - just the kitchen and the bedroom with no kind of sitting area except the little kitchen table. Even for one person it feels cramped, so if you stay here make sure you have plans outside the house all day!

Mantua apartment kitchen — All the appliances and silverware are that aqua color - different brands yet they all match! Nicely done.

Mantua apartment bedroom — Dunno if I would have chosen that wallpaper though...

Basilica di Sant'Andrea la Apostola, 10/14/2025

The bad: the paintings were tucked away and poorly lit. There are supposed to be a couple masterworks here but you'd never recognize them. The good: everything else!

Sant'Andrea exterior — It's whatever, right? Just shut your pie hole and go inside.

Sant'Andrea interior — See what a little bit of Jesus' blood gets you?

Sant'Andrea ceilign — I'm pretty sure that's scupted and detailed.

Sant'Andrea trompe l'oeil — But these aren't! When you first walk in you totally think they're sculpted.

Palazzo Ducale, 10/15/2025

This one isn't quite as big as Castello Sforezco or the Palazzo Sabauda but it's close. However the inside... was just OK, and I don't think it's because I'm getting jaded. I think rather it's a thing where the level of talent available here, for all manner of artists and artisans, was just not the same as you could get in Turin or Milan. So you have a palace that aspires to that level but just can't get there.

That said they DO have a world-class collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture (one or more of the Gonzaga family collected them), of which I only show a few here. Another neat discovery was a very good 16th century printmaker, Diana Scultori, who had two very particular distinctions - not only was she a successful female printmaker way back then, she was the first woman to be granted the rights to her own work, by the pope himself.

Fresco in Camera degli Sposi by Mantegna. Mantegna is one of Mantua's main claims to fame. I understand it was early renaissance but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Fresco in The Troy Room by Romano. This, on the other hand, gets a thumbs up... more on Romano a little further down.

Devotees of Isis by an unknown ancient Greek. Still pretty impressive what they managed 2500+ years ago.

Roman Sculpture 1 — Anonymous Roman sculpture

Roman Sculpture 2 — Another anonymous Roman sculpture

Hall of Sculptures 2 — One of the halls full of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, and some Renaissance "imitations."

Mischievous Pan — Pan is clearly up to no good.

The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine by Diana Scultori, before 1572

The Baptism of Saint Eustace by Diana Scultori, 1576

Chariot of the Day / Council of the Gods / Chariot of the Night by Guido Reni's workshop, circa 1618

The Miracle of Loaves and Fishes by Domenico Fetti, circa 1620

Halberdier / Portrait of Francesco IV Gonzaga / The Gonzaga Family in Adoration of the Holy Trinity / ?? by Rubens, 1605

Il Duomo, 10/15/2025

What am I gonna write that you haven't already read?

St. Gerome Writing the Vulgate (Latin translation of the Bible) by Felice Campi, 1803.

Palazzo d'Arco, 10/15/2025

I got the guided tour in Italian so I was lucky if I understood half of it, but another prominent local family that strove for a world-class palace and couldn't quite get there. The most interesting part was the Hall of the Zodiac, a big room entirely frescoed with illustrations for each sign.

Palazzo d'Arco portrait room — All four walls are filled with family portraits, presumably going back generations. The overall effect is impressive even if the paintings individually aren't.

Hall of the Zodiac 1 — It's thought that the sneaky guy on the lower left is the one who commissioned this whole thing.

Hall of the Zodiac 2 — The ambition of it is impressive even if the execution is only a B+. I should know, that grade was a specialty of mine.

Palazzo Te, 10/16/2025

THIS one I'll give world-class. Not much in the way of paintings but some of the frescoes, by Giulio Romano (Raphael's favorite student and the one that took over his workshop), are pretty epic.

Palazzo Te panoramic — A panoramic of the park outside the Palazzo

The video halfway gets the point across. Epic!!

Chamber of the Giants 2 — Very unhappy giants.

Chamber of Cupid and Psyche by Giulio Romano, circa 1526 - 1528

A banquet for Emperor Charles V was held here in 1530; they pulled out all the stops!

Chamber of the Emperors by Giulio Romano, circa 1530