MANTUA, fortified city, Lombardy (Ital. Mantova), Italy, capital of the province of Mantua, see of a bishop and centre of a military district, 25 m. south-south-west of Verona and roo m. east-south-east of Milan by rail. Pop. (1931) It is 88 ft. above the level of the Adriatic on an almost insular site among swampy lagoons of the Mincio. On the west lies Lago Superiore, on the'east Lago Inferiore—the boundary between the two being marked by the Argine del Mulino, a long mole stretching north ward from the north-west angle of the city to the citadel, along which run the road and the railway.
On the highest ground in the city rises the cathedral, the inte rior of which was built after his death according to the plans of Giulio Romano. The church of St. Andrea after plans by Leon Battista Alberti, has a single, barrel-vaulted nave 338 ft. long by 62 ft. wide (1472-1494 and later) ; the dome was added in r732 82. It has a noble façade with a deeply recessed portico, and a brick campanile of 1414. Mantegna is buried here. The immense ducal palace was begun in 1302 for Guido Bonaccolsi, but many of the fine apartments are of much later date, and the internal dec orations are largely by Giulio Romano and his pupils. In one of the rooms is a set of tapestries after Raphael's cartoons now at South Kensington Museum. Castello di Corte, the castle of the Gonzagas (1395-1406), erected by Bartolino da Novara, the ar chitect of the castle of Ferrara, now contains the archives, and has some fine frescoes by Mantegna with scenes from the life of Ludovico Gonzaga. Close by are the Piazza dell' Erbe and the Piazza Sordello, with Gothic palaces. Outside the city stands the Palazzo del Te, Giulio's architectural masterpiece, erected for Frederick Gonzaga in 1523-1535, with numerous fresco-covered rooms. At the villa of Marmiruolo are other works by him. The
architecture of Giulio's own house in the town is also good.
Mantua has an academy of arts and sciences (Accademia V er giliana), occupying a fine building erected by Piermarini, contain ing a theatre designed by Antonio Bibiena (5769), and a museum of antiquities.
Mantua had still a strong Etruscan element in its population during the Roman period. Its main interest is as the birthplace of Virgil (q.v.). In 568 the Lombards took Mantua with diffi culty ; recovered in 590 by the exarch of Ravenna, it was recap tured by Agilulf in 6o1. The 9th century was the period of epis copal supremacy, and in the 1 1 th the city belonged to Bonifacio, marquis of Canossa. It passed to Geoffrey, duke of Lorraine, and afterwards to the countess Matilda, but was taken by the emperor Henry IV. in 109o. Reduced to obedience by Matilda in 1113, the city on her death instituted a communal government of its own. It afterwards joined the Lombard League. But after internal discords Ludovico Gonzaga attained to power (1328), and was recognized as imperial vicar (1329) ; and until 1708 the Gonzagas were masters of Mantua (see GONzAGA). Under Gian Francesco II., the first marquis, Ludovico III., Gian Francesco III. (whose wife was Isabella d'Este), and Federico II., the first duke of Man tua, the city rose rapidly into importance. It was stormed and sacked by the Austrians in 1630. It was claimed in 1708 as a fief of the empire by Joseph I. Besieged by Napoleon in June 1796, it held out till February In 1 799 it fell to the Austrians; restored to the French by the peace of Luneville (I8oi ), it be came Austrian again (1814-66).