In 2025, Palazzo Te in Mantua celebrates its 500th anniversary with an updated itinerary and the reopening of the Fruiteries

Mantua ’s Palazzo Te celebrates its 500th anniversary in 2025: built between 1525 and 1535, it stands as a symbol of Renaissance magnificence, a place of court, intimacy, and celebration. It was here that Emperor Charles V was twice hosted, and where the grandeur of architecture and decoration accompanied Gonzaga’s appointment as Duke. Palazzo Te represents an extraordinary fusion of art, literature and politics and reflects the dramatic transformations of its time. At the heart of this Palazzo-Wunderkammer,homage to antiquity and celebration of the Gonzaga family are intertwined in a continuous dialogue of literary and mythological references. Among the most famous masterpieces are the Chamber of Cupid and Psyche and the Chamber of Giants, two masterpieces created by Giulio Romano.

“Five hundred years ago, two young men, the 25-year-old Gonzaga and the 30-something Giulio Romano, let an artistic and political utopia arise, a cultural agenda destined to change the history of architecture and painting. Today Palazzo Te establishes itself as a place capable of inspiring dreams, visions, creativity. A place that for five hundred years has been dedicated to ”making a beginning," said the director of the Fondazione Palazzo Te, Stefano Baia Curioni.

For its five-hundredth anniversary, Palazzo Te will offer an updated tour planned for spring 2025, with the refurbishment of the first rooms in which the focus will be on the theme of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The latter will also be the theme of an itinerary curated by Claudia Cieri Via and designed to create counterpoints in dialogue with the heritage of Palazzo Te that will see the arrival of several Renaissance masterpieces on loan from the Louvre Museum, the Albertina in Vienna and the Uffizi.

Fall 2025 will mark a high point of the celebrations with an original installation by contemporary artist Isaac Julien, curated by Lorenzo Giusti. The British artist, known for his visual narratives and multi-screen film installations, will inaugurate the new spaces of the Fruttiere by presenting a work inspired by the theme of Metamorphoses in a contemporary key, in assonance with the legacy of Giulio Romano.

The Cinquecentenario celebrations will also be enriched by a series of new event set-ups, structural interventions that include new lighting of the Exedra planned for spring, and the installation of three seminar spaces intended for educational programs.

Photo by Gian Maria Pontiroli

In 2025, Palazzo Te in Mantua celebrates its 500th anniversary with an updated itinerary and the reopening of the Fruiteries

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