Piazza Broletto

Mantua


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 official and adorned with a coat of arms, The piazza also features a white stone shrine dedicated to native son Virgil, depicting the Roman poet sitting at his desk.

The brick arch to the left, the Arengario, bears evidence of medieval Mantuan punishments. Prisoners were suspended from the iron rings in the ceiling and the ropes pulled taught, a torture known as squassi di corda.


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Nearby Mantua attractions

1. Arengario

0.02 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…

2. Palazzo del Podestà

0.02 MILES

This huge, 13th-century palace sits between Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza Broletto and was commissioned by Duke Ludovico Gonzaga. For centuries it served…

3. Palazzo della Ragione

0.05 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…

4. Torre della Gabbia

0.05 MILES

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…

5. Piazza delle Erbe

0.06 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…

6. Rotonda di San Lorenzo

0.08 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…

7. Basilica di Sant'Andrea

0.08 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…

8. Piazza Sordello

0.1 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…

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