There are many reasons to visit Mantova (Mantua).
It's often mentioned as Italy's most livable city. It's won awards as Italy's "greenest city."
None of these is the reason we came to Mantova. Carol insisted we go because of a project she had in an Italian literature class at UW (more about that in our next blog post).
Mantova is not on most tourists' radar. Yet, it has a number of notable features.
Seven hundred years ago, city fathers surrounded Mantova with four artificial lakes to protect against invasion. It worked! It was never sacked by invaders. As a result, the city has a rich architectural legacy...from Romanesque on...
...right through Baroque.
Mantova also has a rich history in literature and the arts. The Roman poet Virgil was born in this city. The site of his house...near this statue in his honor...is a landmark.
Mantova was well known to Shakespeare. The city is mentioned in Merchant of Venice, is the site of Romeo's exile in Romeo and Juliet, and is the local for several scenes in Two Gentlemen from Verona.
Some argue the first modern opera was performed here.
There is no argument that Verdi's operatic hero Rigoletto was a clown in the court of the Duke of Mantua.
This rich cultural history was made possible because of the four centuries-long rule of one family...the Gonzagas.
The Gonzaga family took control of Mantua in 1328. They soon formed an alliance with the Sforzas of Milan.
In this famous painting (about which you will hear more in the next blog post) Ludovico Gonzaga (seated, with the paper in his hand) receives a message from a Milanese courier. Mantua was the eastern outpost of Lombardy and a bastion that blocked the territorial ambitions of Venice.
A century later, Federico II was named Grand Duke of Mantova. Thus began an impressive run of marital alliances with the great dynasties of Europe. The Medici of Florence, the Hapsburgs of Austria, the Brandenburgs of Prussia, and the Bourbons of France.
When Napoleon invaded Italy in 1799, the Gonzagas lost their absolute rule over Mantua, but they continued to serve. In World War I, this Gonzaga duke served as a general in the Italian army...winning the medal of honor for personal bravery.