The 15th-century dome of the Basilica of Sant'Andrea, which we could see from our hotel room
Mantua is compact and walkable, with lots of piazzas lined with shops and restaurants under wide arcades.
Mantua's oldest church, the 1082 Rotonda of San Lorenzo, is drawfed by the 15th-century towers and domes around it
A simple Madonna and Child in the Rotonda of San Lorenzo church
A turn-of-the-last-century house near our hotel that we liked the look of
Manuta's Cathedral of Saint Peter on the left and the Bishop's palace on the right
The cathedral is a mix of styles from different periods: a Baroque marble front from 1756, Gothic brick sides from about 1400, and an earlier Romanesque bell tower
Part of the huge Ducal Palace of the Gonzaga family, who ruled Mantua from the 1300s to the 1600s
Cranes and scaffolding drive Melissa crazy when she's trying to photograph old cities
The problem isn't a new one, as this detail from a 15th-century painting of Mantua shows
The jewel of the Ducal Palace is this room painted with scenes of the Gonzaga family from 1465 to 1474 by Andrea Mantegna
Three generations of Gonzaga dukes and cardinals
Count Ludovico III with his wife, children, and courtiers
The artist, Andrea Mantegna, hid a self-portrait in the decorative foliage
We'd never seen cherubs with butterfly wings before (they're holding a plaque commemorating the completion of the paintings in 1474)
Mantenga's painted room was one of the first uses of a trompe l'oeil ceiling, a style that became common in later centuries
Roman-inspired wall and ceiling decorations elsewhere in the Ducal Palace
An early part of the palace is St. George's castle, built around 1400
The great bulk of the palace is now largely empty. (The Gonzagas lost power in Mantua in 1708.)
Mantua's wonderful little Bibiena Theater opened in 1769. The tiers of small boxes were designed so that all of the audience members could see each other.
14-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a piano recital on this stage soon after the theater opened
Mantua is bordered on three sides by lakes, so a boat ride is a good way to see the city
The lakefront parks are popular for walking, biking, and fishing
On our boat ride we saw lots of swans and cormorants
