Mantua and Sabbioneta
Mantua and Sabbioneta, in the Po valley, in the
north of Italy, represent two aspects of Renaissance town planning:
Mantua shows the renewal and extension of an existing city, while 30 km
away, Sabbioneta represents the implementation of the period’s theories
about planning the ideal city. Typically, Mantua’s layout is irregular
with regular parts showing different stages of its growth since the
Roman period and includes many medieval edifices among them an 11th
century rotunda and a Baroque theatre. Sabbioneta, created in the second
half of the 16th century under the rule of one person, Vespasiano
Gonzaga Colonna, can be described as a single-period city and has a
right angle grid layout. Both cities offer exceptional testimonies to
the urban, architectural and artistic realizations of the Renaissance,
linked through the visions and actions of the ruling Gonzaga family. The
two towns are important for the value of their architecture and for
their prominent role in the dissemination of Renaissance culture. The
ideals of the Renaissance, fostered by the Gonzaga family, are present
in the towns’ morphology and architecture.