Mantua rises out of three artificial lakes formed by the river Mincio, a Renaissance city set in the flat Po plain, and in summer the air carries the smell of water and reeds. The Gonzaga family ruled here for almost four centuries, and they turned a modest town into one of the most brilliant courts in Italy. In the Ducal Palace, a labyrinth of hundreds of rooms, Andrea Mantegna painted the Camera degli Sposi, a small chamber whose ceiling shows an illusionistic oculus with faces and cherubs peering down. Not far away, the Palazzo Te, built for Federico Gonzaga by Giulio Romano, is a pleasure villa with playful frescoes of giants falling.
The poet Virgil was born in a village near Mantua, and Verdi set his opera Rigoletto here. The city is listed by UNESCO along with Sabbioneta, a small planned town built by another Gonzaga in the sixteenth century. Mantua was also a place of tragedy: in 1630 imperial troops sacked it and plague followed, and the court never fully recovered.
The ride into Mantua is flat, along long, straight roads across the Po valley, past maize fields, poplars and irrigation canals. The land is unremarkable for riding, and fog can be dense in winter, but the great pleasure is the final approach along the causeways between the lakes, where herons stand in the shallows and the towers of the city rise ahead. Summer evenings bring clouds of mosquitoes, so keep your visor down. The centre has restricted access, with cobbled streets, so park outside and walk in.
Mantua has about forty thousand people, so petrol and a meal are easy to find. Local dishes include tortelli di zucca, pumpkin-filled pasta with amaretti, and sbrisolona, a crumbly almond cake. The Mincio cycle path to Peschiera on Lake Garda is popular, and a boat trip on the lakes is pleasant. The best light comes in April, May and late September, with mist lying on the water at dawn.