This huge, 13th-century palace sits between Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza Broletto and was commissioned by Duke Ludovico Gonzaga. For centuries it served as the town hall, but is currently under renovation after suffering damage in the 2012 Emilia earthquake. Containing 200 rooms spread over eight floors, the work involved is huge, with 2021 touted as the earliest completion date.
Palazzo del Podestà
Mantua
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
21.65 MILES
Built of pink-tinged marble in the 1st century AD, Verona's Roman amphitheatre survived a 12th-century earthquake to become the city’s legendary open-air…
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25.35 MILES
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Palazzo Te was where Frederico II Gonzaga escaped for love trysts with his mistress Isabella Boschetti, and it's decorated in playboy style with stunning…
Nearby Mantua attractions
0.01 MILES
This archway built around 1300 links two palaces with a covered walkway above the street. Look up as you pass beneath the arch to see iron rings on which…
0.02 MILES
One of half a dozen squares that embellish Mantua's historic centre, the Broletto is home to the Palazzo del Podestà, once home to the city's highest…
0.03 MILES
In the Palazzo della Ragione, which runs the length of the square from the Rotonda, and was once the seat of secular power in the city, you can see…
0.04 MILES
Once the location of the town's vegetable market, Piazza delle Erbe is Mantua's most lively piazza. Its 13th-century Palazzo della Ragione sports a 15th…
0.06 MILES
The weather-worn, 11th-century, Lombard Romanesque Rotonda di San Lorenzo is sunk below the level of the square, its red-brick walls still decorated with…
0.07 MILES
Easily usurping Mantua's cathedral, this towering basilica safeguards the golden vessels said to hold earth soaked by the blood of Christ. Longinus, the…
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Enter Piazza Sordello from the south and on your left you have the grand house of the Gonzagas' predecessors, the Bonacolsi clan. Hapless prisoners used…
0.12 MILES
Piazza Sordello is the oldest square in Mantua, and was probably the location of the Etruscan town. The existing layout is thanks to the Gonzagas, whose…