Mantua, a museum dedicated to Virgil opens in the halls of the restored Palazzo del Podestà

A new museum opens in Mantua. After a long and careful process of consolidation and restoration, Saturday, December 7, 2024, marks an important date for the city: the Palazzo del Podestà, a symbol of the city and its municipal history, finally reopens to the public. Located between Piazza Erbe and Piazza del Broletto, this monumental medieval building connects to two other historic structures, the Arengario and the Palazzo del Massaro. Restoration has breathed new life into these spaces, transforming them into the Virgil Museum, a new cultural hub that celebrates Virgil, the great Mantuan poet, in a space-time journey through his works and history, whose design and storytelling was curated by the Holden School..

Palazzo del Podestà, founded in 1227, was the center of administrative and political life in Mantua for seven hundred years, as well as the Palace of Justice (until 1873) and prison (until 1911). Its centuries-old history can be seen in the architectural layers, which tell the story of the city’s transformations. Built in the 13th century, it was renovated in 1462 after work following the devastating fire of 1413. A tragic event, the 2012 earthquake, then necessitated consolidation and renovation. This event, however, brought with it an extraordinary discovery: medieval frescoes that had remained hidden for centuries, which now enrich the experience of visiting the museum.

“Recognizing, making vital the historical foundations and sentiment on which ’Mantuan civilization’ was formed is a theme on which the City of Mantua is working hard,” recalls Mayor Mattia Palazzi. “We connect experiences, intelligences. We build alliances, national and international. And we will also do it by going back to reasoning about Virgil, because it is a duty to do so, as Mantuans, and because we find today, in this time, universal values and messages on which part of the future of this land is still played out.”

“Today, museums are spaces for critical dialogue about the past but projected into the future,” explains Veronica Ghizzi, director of the Mantua Civic Museums. “They are places for the preservation of memories, for future generations, but also the place to take note of the challenges of the present. That’s how museums are made: they can only be everyone’s museums if they promote knowledge, critical thinking, participation and community well-being.”

The rediscovered frescoes: the Cycle of the Months

One of the most fascinating treasures that emerged during the restoration work is the Cycle of the Months, a pictorial cycle of exceptional artistic value located in the Upper Masseria and discovered precisely in 2012. The images depict the months of the year through work scenes and astrological references, creating a bridge between the harmony of natural time and human life. This illustrated codex, with high didactic value, offers a visual experience capable of captivating both experts and casual visitors.

Alongside the Cycle of the Months, the walls of the Upper Masseria house frescoes depicting scenes from chivalric and mythological tales, including armigers in battle and centaurs. An enigmatic soldier with capride legs could represent, according to the hypothesis of Veronica Ghizzi, the museum’s director, a variation on the iconography of King Arthur, a symbol of mad and disorderly undertakings, in stark contrast to the harmony celebrated in the Cycle of Months.

Virgil and the natural order

The theme of nature, central to the Cycle of Months, relates directly to Virgil’s Georgics, where the poet celebrates agricultural labor as an instrument of peace and cosmic order. Virgil’s vision, which contrasts the harmony of celestial time with the chaos of human conflicts, finds a perfect representation in the medieval cosmology reproposed by the frescoes. The museum tour also allows visitors to see heraldic frescoes from 1473 and, in the Arengario, a frieze about a meter high, laid on white plaster, with insignia from the time of Federico II Gonzaga.

The Virgil Museum is not limited to frescoes, however: visitors can admire a number of artworks and artifacts related to the poet. Notable among these are the Virgil in the Chair, a 13th-century polychrome sculpture, and the Throne of Virgil, an artifact from the 2nd century BC. Also of great interest are Gonzaga coins bearing the poet’s effigy, a fragment of a 1540 fresco depicting his face, a bust of Virgil from the first half of the 16th century, and ancient volumes of his works. Each piece on display helps tell the story of the unbreakable bond between Virgil and Mantua, a connection that the museum aims to make tangible and accessible to all.

An immersive, digital experience

The Virgil Museum is not content with being a physical place. Thanks to adedicated app, visitors can access multimedia content that enriches the visitor experience. Each room, work or artifact is accompanied by QR codes that reveal insights, curiosities and hidden details.

The app also offers the “My Virgil” interactive tour, which allows visitors to discover which side of the poet most closely reflects their interest: the Hidden Virgil, reflective, who chooses to live in the background to find peace; the Master Virgil, scholarly, who writes and experiments and unknowingly prepares for his own immortality, becoming a guide and vate for those who come after him; the Epic Virgil, who decides to devote himself to a greater purpose, becomes the voice of History and the State, with the dream of making the public a community; and the Human Virgil, who knows how to look inside human beings and ennobles the passions, the disturbances, the frailties, the ideals. In addition, the “Virgil Glocal” section offers a map of Virgilian places, ranging from sites in Mantua to international monuments related to the poet’s myth, also using as a filter the profile one has chosen along the way: Places of Childhood and Dwellings (Hidden Virgil); Works and Finds in Mantua (Master Virgil); Museums and Palaces that tell the myth of Virgil and the Route of Aeneas (Epic Virgil); Squares, Statues and Monuments (Human Virgil).

A living and evolving museum

Promoted by the Municipality of Mantua with the support of the Virgil Committee, Fondazione Banca Agricola Mantovana, the Lombardy Region and the Tea Group, the Virgil Museum is envisioned as a constantly growing space. The goal is not only to inaugurate it, but to keep it alive with new content and initiatives.

The reopening of the Palazzo del Podestà and the birth of the Virgil Museum represent a significant milestone for Mantua, which not only celebrates its past but also looks to the future with a space that combines tradition and innovation.

After the opening, the museum will open daily, Mondays from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The ticket office closes one hour earlier. Tickets: full 8 euros, reduced 5 (for over 65s, groups 15-25 people, accompanying disabled persons, residents of Mantua or Borgo Virgilio, holders of TCI, FAI, Virgilio Parcomuseum ticket cards), reduced for students 12-18 years old 3 euros, free for children up to 11 years old. For information: www.museovirgilio.it

Mantua, a museum dedicated to Virgil opens in the halls of the restored Palazzo del Podestà

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