Mantua

Mantua (in Italian Màntova, in the local dialect of Lombard language Mantua) is an important city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. more...

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Mantua is surrounded on three sides by artificial lakes created during the 12th century. These receive the waters from the Mincio, which descend from Lake Garda. The three lakes are called Lago Superiore, Lago di Mezzo, and Lago Inferiore ("Superior", "Middle," and "Inferior" Lakes). A fourth lake, Lake Pajolo, which once completed a defensive water ring of the city, dried up at the end of the 18th century.

Mantua is mentioned in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet. In this Romeo is sent into exile for killing Tybalt Capulet in a swordfight. Romeo subsequently leaves Mantua and returns to Verona when he hears his love, Juliet, has died.

History

The city was founded, probably around 2000 BC, on the banks of the Mincio, on a sort of island which provided natural protection. In the 6th century BC it was an Etruscan village which, in Etruscan tradition, was re-founded by Ocno. The name derives from the Etruscan god Mantus, of Hades. After being conquered by the Cenomani, a Gaul tribe, the Romans conquered it between the first and second Punic wars, confusing its name with Manto, a daughter of Tyresia (Tiresias). The new was populated by veteran soldiers of Augustus. Mantua's most famous ancient citizen is the poet Publius Virgilius Maro, Virgil (Mantua me genuit), who was born near the city in 70 BC.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Mantua was invaded by Goths, Byzantines, Longobards and Franks. In the 11th century it became a possession of Boniface of Canossa, marquis of Toscana. The last ruler of the family was the countess Matilde of Canossa (d. 1115), who, according to legend, ordered the construction of the precious "Rotonda di San Lorenzo" (1082).

After the death of Matilde of Canossa, Mantua became a free commune, and strenuously defended itself from the Holy Roman Empire in the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1198 Alberto Pitentino optimised the course of the Mincio, creating what Mantuans call "the four lakes" to reinfore the city's natural protection.

During the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, Pinamonte Bonacolsi took advantage of the chaotic situation to seize power in 1273. His family ruled Mantua for the next century, making it more prosperous and artistically beautiful. On August 16, 1328, the last Bonacolsi, Rinaldo, was overthrown in a revolt backed by the House of Gonzaga, a family of officials, namely the 60-year-old Luigi and his sons Guido, Filippino and Feltrino. Luigi Gonzaga, who had been podestà of the city in 1318, was elected "People's Captain". The Gonzaga built new walls with five gates and renovated the architecture of the city in the 14th century, but the political situation in the city did not settle until the third Gonzaga, Ludovico I of Gonzaga, eliminated his relatives, seizing power for himself.

Read more at Wikipedia.org