Just a few minutes from Mantua on the way to Parma another city enlisted by UNESCO among the World’s Heritage: Sabbioneta. Entirely created by Vespasiano Gonzaga in the second half of the sixteenth century the city was born and died with its founder.

Sabbioneta

Sabbioneta is a typical example of fortified city, with an hexagonal plan and a star-shaped circle of walls around it. Vespasiano, who had spent years in Spain to serve Philip II as a military engineer and governor, wanted to create his ideal Urbis, not only a fortress but a Capital where the quality of the buildings was equal to that of a real city.

Among the important buildings such as the Ducal Palace, the most outstanding is the beautiful Olympic Theatre projected by Vincenzo Scamozzi, follower of Palladio, in 1588.

Sabbioneta

Galleria degli antichi - Corridor Grande

Sabbioneta

Palazzo Ducale

Sabbioneta

Corridor grande