Mantova: Palazzo Te

There was a simple explanation for the long, motionless queue in front of the Palazzo Te in Mantova: there had been a power cut, so it was momentarily impossible to print tickets. Paying by card was also not an option as long as the problem had not been fixed. Fortunately…

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Mantova: San Sebastiano

From the Palazzo Te it was just a short walk to the church of San Sebastiano. The church was designed by the famous Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472). Its construction started around 1460 and it was completed by Luca Fancelli (ca. 1430-1502) well after the death of the original…

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Mantova: The Duomo

The cathedral of Mantova is dedicated to Saint Peter the Apostle. In Italian the building is therefore known as the cattedrale di San Pietro. It is a peculiar rather than a beautiful building, a remarkable mixture of styles, combining a Romanesque bell-tower, a Gothic flank, a sixteenth-century Renaissance interior with…

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Mantova: Sant’Andrea

People who approach Mantova from the northeast and cross the Ponte San Giorgio to get to the city will see the enormous dome of the church and co-cathedral of Sant’Andrea rise up behind the lower buildings. The Sant’Andrea is by far the largest church in the city. From a religious…

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Mantova: Piazza Virgiliana

“Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope; cecini pascua, rura, duces.” (“Mantua bore me, Calabria took me away again, Naples now holds me; I sang about pastures, fields, leaders”) These famous words, which according to tradition are from the epitaph of the poet Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BCE) and…

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