[Mantova 2022] 4K Walk in Mantova Italy | The City of the three lakes

Mantova is protected on three sides by as many river basins located along the course of the Mincio river. The three lakes, in their current conformation, are not of natural origin, but were created in 1190 by the engineer Alberto Pitentino, who designed what is still considered an extraordinary work of hydraulic engineering. Until about the middle of the XVIII century , -when Lake Paiolo was drained-there were even four basins, which made Mantua a real island for several centuries . The Roman myth of the foundation of Mantua traces the origin of the city to the prophetess Manto, who according to Greek tradition is the daughter of the Theban soothsayer Tiresias. In reality, in all likelihood, the name derives from the Etruscan divinity Mantus to whom the founder Onus would have dedicated it.

The mythical origins of the city also echo in the XX Canto of Hell in which Virgil, the most famous Mantuan in history-who was born in 70 BC.-describes the ancient boundaries of the city to Dante. On a historical and archaeological level, the first settlements date back to the late Bronze Age while the first real city development took place under the Etruscan domination (6th century BC). With the Roman conquest in the third century BC, following the victory over the Cenomanian Gauls, the city first became a simple colony, and then rised to the rank of free city with the promulgation of the Lex Iulia de civitate (90 BC), finally becoming a municipium in 47 BC. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city underwent several dominations from the Goths to the Franks, passing through Byzantines and Lombards. Around the year 1000 , it became a possession of the Canossa family whose last and most illustrious representative was the countess Matilde, upon whose death, in 1046, the city became a free municipality, challenging the imperial authority.
In 1273, with the coming to power of the powerful Ghibelline Bonacolsi family,
Mantua became a Lordship.

The Bonacolsi, with the support of the emperor, stood up as defenders of citizenship against the danger represented by the clergy and its inquisition. Their dominion over the city ended in 1328 with the conquest of the city by the Gonzagas, supported by Verona and its militias, commanded by Cangrande I della Scala.

Under the rule of the Gonzagas, Mantua became one of the greatest art centers in Italy and one of the richest and most prestigious courts of the Renaissance period, attracting among the greatest architects and artists of the time, above all Leon Battista Alberti, Giulio Romano and Andrea Mantegna. In 1627, with the extinction of the firstborn line of the Gonzagas, the slow decline of Mantua began, which after a long period marked by wars of succession, looting perpetrated by imperial troops and a serious epidemic of plague, in 1707 passed under Austrian rule .

In 1866 Mantua officially became part of the Kingdom of Italy.
There are many places to visit, above all the Palazzo Ducale, the Castle of San Giorgio, Palazzo Te ', the house of Rigoletto, Piazza Sordello, Piazza delle Erbe, the loggia of the Giulio Romano fishmongers, the Rotonda of San Lorenzo, and the basilica of Sant 'Andrea