Day 16: Mantova
Our first day out of our apartment….the hotel room is comfortable but we miss the space that we had to stretch out. Breakfast is fine….the cornetti are good and I guess I will be able to make do with two cappuccini instead of my three cups of strong American coffee.
The sky starts out overcast but there is a hint of the sun trying to push through. I head over to the internet café for an e-mail session…one of the staff tells me that he thinks that there is a café in the next square that has high speed wi-fi access. I will definitely check that out.
The Palazzo Ducale is our first stop today….Mantova was ruled by the Gonzaga family for over 300 years (up until the 17th century) and during that time their palace grew to over 300 rooms dominating the north-east corner of the town. The Gonzaga were patrons of the arts and they brought many famous artists to Mantova to decorate the various rooms of the palace. [If you want to know more about the Gonzagas, we can recommend “A Renaissance Tapestry”—a wonderful history written by Kate Simon about the family and its rule.] The palace is studded with wonderful rooms designed by architects Leon Battista Alberti (from Florence) and Giuliano Romano (from Rome) as well as wonderful paintings by Andrea Mantegna.
The Palazzo Ducale is set on a much vaster and less charming piazza just to the north of the Piazza delle Erbe—the Piazza Sordello. It shares the piazza with the Duomo, lots of cafes and bars, a hotel and government offices. During our time in Mantova, we frequently saw long lines of immigrants—Indians, Chinese and Africans—waiting to get into the immigration office.
We had visited the palace on our previous trip to Mantova, but at that time we had to go with a guide who only spoke Italian. This time we rent an audioguide with English commentary…which is better but is riddled with terrible English prose and strange constructions. The palace is vast and many of the rooms are filled with less than stellar (to our eyes) art. But it is fascinating to see how the palace grew and some of the rooms are extremely grand. The Gonzaga built their own church within the walls of the palace. There are wonderful views from the lake front rooms. The highlight of the tour is the room called the Camera degli Sposi (Bridal Suite) which is lavishly frescoed by Andrea Mategna. The two frescoed walls (painted around 1470) show two episodes from the life of Ludovico II from New Years Day 1462. The detail is incredible and the fresco was cleaned fairly recently so the colors are bright and vivid. It is definitely the highlight of the visit to the Palazzo.
Leaving the Gonzaga Palace and jumping back to the present, I find the bar on the Piazza Sordello that has the free wi-fi connection. We stroll around town for a while and then I bring my computer to the café to use the connection. For lunch, we sit outside in the Piazza delle Erbe (in the cool shade of the Palazzo della Ragione) and have lunch at one of the cafes….a piadina (a sandwich on a tortilla like flat bread—a speciality of the neighboring region of Emilia-Romagna) for me and a nice plate of lasagna for Diana. Other customers are moving tables into the sunlight on the far end of the piazza; we wish we had done that also.
We finally make it to the lakefront (passing the Teatro Bibbiena where Mozart played as a thirteen year old), walk along the lakeshore and sit on a bench (in the warm sunshine) watching fishermen, joggers and people walking their dogs. The lakefront is very well kept and the lakes are very attractive. We are going to take a boat cruise around the lakes and into the Parco del Mincio so we walk to the boat dock, buy our tickets and take a seat on the open roof deck of the boat. I write some postcards and we enjoy the warm sunshine.
The boat excursion is very pleasant….we get nice views of the distinctive Mantova skyline and get closeup views of the fishermen out in their boats. The trip continues downstream to the open river, which is a wildlife preserve. There are more fishermen out in boats and also fishing from the banks….some have set up little camps and have numerous lines out at the same time.
As the boat starts its return trip, the sun goes behind the clouds and we move down to the enclosed cabin. The 90 minute trip turns out to be about 20 minutes too long for us…the sights on the way back are the same as the ones on the way out and it isn’t as pleasant sitting inside. But we think it is a worthwhile expedition, giving us a view of another aspect of Mantova.
After a short rest at the hotel and another brief visit to the free wi-fi café, we join the throngs of Mantovani out for their Saturday night passeggiata. It seems that the whole town is out, window shopping, greeting friends, strolling up and down the streets, stopping for gelato or glass of wine or a coffee. This is one of the most lively passeggiatas that we can remember…enhanced by the beauty of Mantova in the early evening light.
Dinner is at Il Portichetto, a small, charming trattoria down a deserted side street in the middle of town. We enjoy our dinner…but the total experience is better than the individual pieces of the meal. I have crostini with seasoned lardo to start and Diana has a great plate of local salume. My agnoli (local pasta pockets filled with salami) in brodo (chicken soup) was good and Diana had another version of the dry and tasty Mantovan risotto. Her steak was just okay but my plate of goulash and couscous was terrific. We have the house wine which is unremarkable but fine. No room for dessert…..
We make the short walk back to the hotel through almost deserted streets…..
PS A picture from Mantova…..the Piazza delle Erbe
The sky starts out overcast but there is a hint of the sun trying to push through. I head over to the internet café for an e-mail session…one of the staff tells me that he thinks that there is a café in the next square that has high speed wi-fi access. I will definitely check that out.
The Palazzo Ducale is our first stop today….Mantova was ruled by the Gonzaga family for over 300 years (up until the 17th century) and during that time their palace grew to over 300 rooms dominating the north-east corner of the town. The Gonzaga were patrons of the arts and they brought many famous artists to Mantova to decorate the various rooms of the palace. [If you want to know more about the Gonzagas, we can recommend “A Renaissance Tapestry”—a wonderful history written by Kate Simon about the family and its rule.] The palace is studded with wonderful rooms designed by architects Leon Battista Alberti (from Florence) and Giuliano Romano (from Rome) as well as wonderful paintings by Andrea Mantegna.
The Palazzo Ducale is set on a much vaster and less charming piazza just to the north of the Piazza delle Erbe—the Piazza Sordello. It shares the piazza with the Duomo, lots of cafes and bars, a hotel and government offices. During our time in Mantova, we frequently saw long lines of immigrants—Indians, Chinese and Africans—waiting to get into the immigration office.
We had visited the palace on our previous trip to Mantova, but at that time we had to go with a guide who only spoke Italian. This time we rent an audioguide with English commentary…which is better but is riddled with terrible English prose and strange constructions. The palace is vast and many of the rooms are filled with less than stellar (to our eyes) art. But it is fascinating to see how the palace grew and some of the rooms are extremely grand. The Gonzaga built their own church within the walls of the palace. There are wonderful views from the lake front rooms. The highlight of the tour is the room called the Camera degli Sposi (Bridal Suite) which is lavishly frescoed by Andrea Mategna. The two frescoed walls (painted around 1470) show two episodes from the life of Ludovico II from New Years Day 1462. The detail is incredible and the fresco was cleaned fairly recently so the colors are bright and vivid. It is definitely the highlight of the visit to the Palazzo.
Leaving the Gonzaga Palace and jumping back to the present, I find the bar on the Piazza Sordello that has the free wi-fi connection. We stroll around town for a while and then I bring my computer to the café to use the connection. For lunch, we sit outside in the Piazza delle Erbe (in the cool shade of the Palazzo della Ragione) and have lunch at one of the cafes….a piadina (a sandwich on a tortilla like flat bread—a speciality of the neighboring region of Emilia-Romagna) for me and a nice plate of lasagna for Diana. Other customers are moving tables into the sunlight on the far end of the piazza; we wish we had done that also.
We finally make it to the lakefront (passing the Teatro Bibbiena where Mozart played as a thirteen year old), walk along the lakeshore and sit on a bench (in the warm sunshine) watching fishermen, joggers and people walking their dogs. The lakefront is very well kept and the lakes are very attractive. We are going to take a boat cruise around the lakes and into the Parco del Mincio so we walk to the boat dock, buy our tickets and take a seat on the open roof deck of the boat. I write some postcards and we enjoy the warm sunshine.
The boat excursion is very pleasant….we get nice views of the distinctive Mantova skyline and get closeup views of the fishermen out in their boats. The trip continues downstream to the open river, which is a wildlife preserve. There are more fishermen out in boats and also fishing from the banks….some have set up little camps and have numerous lines out at the same time.
As the boat starts its return trip, the sun goes behind the clouds and we move down to the enclosed cabin. The 90 minute trip turns out to be about 20 minutes too long for us…the sights on the way back are the same as the ones on the way out and it isn’t as pleasant sitting inside. But we think it is a worthwhile expedition, giving us a view of another aspect of Mantova.
After a short rest at the hotel and another brief visit to the free wi-fi café, we join the throngs of Mantovani out for their Saturday night passeggiata. It seems that the whole town is out, window shopping, greeting friends, strolling up and down the streets, stopping for gelato or glass of wine or a coffee. This is one of the most lively passeggiatas that we can remember…enhanced by the beauty of Mantova in the early evening light.
Dinner is at Il Portichetto, a small, charming trattoria down a deserted side street in the middle of town. We enjoy our dinner…but the total experience is better than the individual pieces of the meal. I have crostini with seasoned lardo to start and Diana has a great plate of local salume. My agnoli (local pasta pockets filled with salami) in brodo (chicken soup) was good and Diana had another version of the dry and tasty Mantovan risotto. Her steak was just okay but my plate of goulash and couscous was terrific. We have the house wine which is unremarkable but fine. No room for dessert…..
We make the short walk back to the hotel through almost deserted streets…..
PS A picture from Mantova…..the Piazza delle Erbe
1 Comments:
Piazza delle Erbe and piazza Sordello (piasa d'li Erbi e piasa Surdell) are connected by a vaulted passage. Right there you can find one of the best bakeries (named Al Vultun, whoch means "at the big arch") of Mantova, producing very good turta dura, turta sbrisulona and turta d'tajadlin (torta duta, torta sbrisolona and torta di tagliatelle). These are three different cakes, the first two are very similar, made of corn flour, almonds, sugar and butter or lard, the latter is basically very thin tagliatelle garnished with butter, sugar and almonds and baked. They can't be cut, they must be broken in pieces (sbrisolona menas crumbly because it crumbles a lot, obviously, torta dura means hard cake because it's not easy to break it). Another traditional cake of Mantova is bisulan, a semisweet hard bread that is perfect dipped in cofee or cappuccino for breakfast. Another wonderful place to get these cakes is Freddi, in front of the "Sociale" theater (piazza Cavallotti 8).
Post a Comment
<< Home