Mantua Italy
59
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
CroisiEurope (59 Cruises)
MS Michelangelo
59 Cruises
| 26 August | 6 days | One-way from Venice to Mantua |
450-628-6241
Call us
|
| 26 August | 7 days | One-way from Venice to Mantua |
450-628-6241
Call us
|
| 27 March | 7 days | One-way from Venice to Mantua |
450-628-6241
Call us
|
| 27 March | 6 days | One-way from Venice to Mantua |
450-628-6241
Call us
|
| 28 August | 7 days | One-way from Venice to Mantua |
450-628-6241
Call us
|
| 28 August | 6 days | One-way from Venice to Mantua |
450-628-6241
Call us
|
Frequently Asked Questions
The boat glides between the water lilies of the three lakes ringing the old city and docks facing a skyline of towers, domes and battlements. The centre is entirely walkable from the landing stage, and the distances stay gentle for all legs.
Three lakes, dug in the twelfth century by diverting the Mincio, ring the old Lombard city. Italians nickname it the Sleeping Beauty; UNESCO listed it as World Heritage in 2007, together with neighbouring Sabbioneta.
It is not a palace, it is a whole district: some five hundred rooms, courtyards, hanging gardens and a palatine basilica linked in a labyrinth. It was the residence of the Gonzaga, who ruled here from 1328 to 1707 and turned their small capital into a magnet for artists.
The room where Mantegna painted the ruling family with a realism and trompe l'oeil that astonished his age, in the Castello di San Giorgio. The ceiling oculus, open onto a false sky peopled with mocking cherubs, still lifts every head five hundred and fifty years later.
Yes. Access is capped and tickets go quickly in high season. Booking online, or taking the boat's excursion, avoids disappointment.
An entirely walkable loop: piazza Sordello and the cathedral, piazza delle Erbe with the Rotonda di San Lorenzo and the clock tower, Alberti's basilica of Sant'Andrea, then Palazzo Te. Keep half an hour for the Lower Lake promenade.
A pleasure villa twenty-five minutes' walk from the centre, built by Giulio Romano for Federico II Gonzaga. The architecture plays games here: deliberately irregular columns, frescoes spilling off the walls, and the famous Room of the Giants where Olympus collapses onto the visitor.
Tortelli di zucca, pumpkin-filled pasta sharpened with amaretti and fruit mustard, descend directly from Renaissance banquets. Sbrisolona, a crumbly almond cake broken by hand, has accompanied coffee for generations.
Yes, in fine weather. A trip on the Upper Lake crosses carpets of lotus flowers, a botanical curiosity introduced in the 1920s that turns the water into a floating garden at the height of summer.
Monday: several sites close their doors, as often in Italy. If the call falls that day, fall back on the squares, the churches and the lakeside walk, which offers the finest image of the day on the way back.
