Piazza Sordello
Start where Mantua's power sat for centuries. Piazza Sordello is named after Sordello da Goito, a 13th-century poet from the Mantua area, and for hundreds of years it was the centre of the city's political, social and religious life. Face the cathedral: its façade dates from the 1700s, while the massive bell tower beside it gives away its medieval origin. You will step inside that church at the very end of the walk.
The square was a deliberate creation. It was laid out in 1330 as Piazza di San Pietro, after old houses were cleared from between two parallel streets that still followed the plan of the Roman town. One of them, the Strada Magna, ran from the vault of San Pietro to the cathedral. Most of what you see is late medieval, with 18th-century additions such as the cathedral front and the bishop's palace.
On your left as you face the cathedral, the palaces follow one another: Palazzo Acerbi with the Torre della Gabbia rising over it, then Palazzo Bonacolsi (Castiglioni), both with round-arched triple windows and two portals, one round-arched and one Renaissance. Next come the Ca' degli Uberti and the Palazzo Vescovile, also called Palazzo Bianchi, beside the cathedral. Opposite stands the crenellated Palazzo del Capitano, older than 1328, the year the Gonzaga rose to power. It became the first core of the Ducal Palace; the Domus Magna next to it shares its 15th-century double-arched windows.
One thing you will not see: an exedra closed off the north side until 1901, when it was pulled down so carts could pass more easily. From here it is 310 m, about 4 minutes, to the Basilica di Sant'Andrea.
