Mantua: the widespread museum of the Vie dei Tesori returns.

Mantua: the widespread museum of the Vie dei Tesori returns.

You will enter for the first time ever six environments – some wonderfully frescoed – recovered from the Palazzo del Podestà; you will rediscover the "holy staircase", a fascinating place of devotion by Ferdinando Gonzaga in the Palazzo Ducale, which reproduces San Giovanni in Laterano; we will visit the rooms of the Polytechnic, previously known only to students and professors; we will be intrigued by the vehicles of the Fire Brigade; and a new chapter will be added to the great recovery of Giulio Romano's Pescherie. And much more: eight extraordinary places and three experiences not to be missed to bring you closer to a new Mantua, even if you see it every day, strengthening the relationship between citizens and communities.

In fact, they are all rediscovered places that can be visited with Le Vie dei Tesori, the festival that has been running since 2006 opens and talks about hundreds of places in Sicily, and which returns to Mantua for its seventh consecutive year. This year too the event has put together a program full of unpublished works three weekends long: let's start in fact next Saturday (14 October) and we move forward until Sunday 29. A new edition, again in collaboration with the association Friends of Palazzo Te and the Museums of Mantua, and Fidam, the Italian Federation of Friends of Museums, under the patronage of the Municipality of Mantua and in synergy with the Diocese, University, Polytechnic, State Property, Tea company, Alkèmica association.

Il program has been illustrated Wednesday 11 October in the Council Chamber of the Municipality of Mantua during a press conference. Speakers included the councilor for civic libraries Alessandra Riccadonna, the president of the Friends of Palazzo Te and the Italian Federation of Friends of Museums Italo Scaietta, the president of the “Le Vie dei Tesori” Foundation Laura Anello, the director of the Diocesan Historical Archives Don Massimiliano Cenzato, the president of Tea Massimiliano Ghizzi, the president of the Galleria Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco, the president of Alkemica Riccardo Govoni and the coordinator of the Architectural Design and History master's degree course Professor Carlo Peraboni, Michela Zurla of Palazzo Ducale and Francesca Campogalliani of theater company of the same name. The students of the Classical and Artistic High Schools of Mantua involved in the project were also present.

Le Streets of Treasures it is one of the largest and most popular Italian festivals of discovery of heritage, where this term does not stop at places and monuments, but draws on every active reality of the community; a single widespread, transversal museum that discovers cultural heritage, becomes a tourist vector, invests in young people, increases the sense of community. Awarded for seven consecutive years with the Representative Medal of the President of the Republic, last year the Le Vie dei Tesori Foundation, which promotes the Festival, received the Commendation for the Landscape Award from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage in recognition of its activity. The festival offers citizens an alliance in the name of culture, of the reappropriation of spaces. And on the other hand, it offers tourists the opportunity to visit open, narrated cities, full of new perspectives.
Created in 2006 for the Bicentenary of the University of Palermo, it strengthens its relationship with the institutions year after year. Three years ago it also launched the "offshoot" of the Borghi dei Tesori, bringing to light sixty small municipalities far from the tourist circuits, which were formed into a single association, the first of its kind in Sicily. Over time the entire festival has become a strong attractor which last year produced 6 million in related tourism including hotels, restaurants, transport and shopping. With a public approval rating that exceeds 95 percent.

In Sicily the 2023 edition has already been underway since the end of August, divided into several tranches. The second tranche is underway: in Palermo, where it all started and which attracted over 25 thousand visitors in the first weekend alone; and in Catania where it lasts the whole month; then Ragusa, Scicli, Noto and Sciacca, where instead it will last until October 22nd.

THE FESTIVAL IN MANTUA.

Treasures to discover for the first time, treasures to look at with new eyes, treasures to listen to the story of, which is the essential condition for truly knowing them. “A place not told is a silent place” is the mantra of Vie dei Tesori which, from Sicily where it was born, returns to Mantua for the seventh year. And he opens eight precious places, pieces that make up a mosaic of art, water, science, to be discovered even from above, from an unknown roof over the city.

From the Palazzo del Podestà which returns six splendid new rooms (after the Torre Pila 1 designed by Italo Rota, opened last year) and which will be open to visitors from the second weekend of the festival; to the Convent of the Convertites transformed into a Polytechnic with splendid frescoes from the school of Mantegna; from the archives of the Diocese, the true memory of the city, to the Scala Santa by Ferdinando Gonzaga, an extraordinary place of devotion for the duke-prelate who entered only on his knees. And again, the unpublished collections (just that of the fire brigade vehicles is extraordinary, you will get lost among vehicles, ladders, amphibians, helicopters, uniforms, posters, models from the mid-1800s to the 1900s); the Gas Workshop up to the view of Porto Catena; the church of San Leonardo, which gave birth to an entire neighborhood, still very much alive; up to the Scientific Theater which will be observed from a truly new "luminous" perspective, the same one that the academics had during the scientific experiments.

The relationship that links Mantua to water needs to be told, starting from the precious Rio that has crossed it since the thirteenth century, but it will be the Alkemica association that will create a series of amazing experiments: the laws of nature rendered in spectacular fashion. And it is also a land of patriots: do you remember the Martyrs of Belfiore? It was 1852, among the Mazzinian patriots hanged by the Habsburg government was the Mantuan doctor Carlo Poma: his voice will be virtually heard in the place where he spent his last nights. In short, Mantua is a widespread and narrated museum, Mantua with a thousand faces, revealed by volunteers and students animated by a passion for their city and eager to pass it on to all visitors.

Festival info and coupons on www.leviedeitesori.com, a site that is a continuous source of materials, photographs and videos. An info point has also been set up at the Pescherie di Giulio Romano, via Pescheria 20, active in three weekends (from Friday to Sunday) from 10 12,30 to and from the 15 17.

THE PLACES OF MANTOVA in detail | 14 – 29 October

 

1. DIOCESAN HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
The “memory” of the city
with ancient unpublished documents
In the years in which public archives did not exist, the memory of the city passed through the documentary heritage of the Diocese over the course of a millennium. The diocesan historical archive preserves the testimony of the government led by its bishops, the work of the clergy, the management of ecclesiastical assets, the relationships with ecclesiastical, religious, military and civil authorities. Formerly the home of the Bianchi marquises, the eighteenth-century building has become the seat of the Episcopio since 1824. A collection of choral codes and liturgical books, manuscripts and printed, from various churches of the Diocese, in addition to the cathedral, has also been added. During the visit, some very ancient documents from the Mantua area will be shown.
Piazza Sordello, 15
Visits: Saturday 28th 14.30pm-17.30pm; Sunday 29th 10am-12.15pm/14.30pm-17.30pm

2. CHURCH OF SAN LEONARDO
The church that gave birth to the neighborhood
and the chapel found under the bombs
From the 1459th century a structure was built around San Leonardo capable of hosting the Benedictine monks of San Rufino, an important protection for the unhealthy area threatened by the waters. The presence of a church and the security offered by the presence of the monks meant that the settlement grew into the vibrant neighborhood it is today. The church of San Leonardo underwent renovations and only in the 1466th century did it take on its current neoclassical appearance, thanks to the architect Giovan Battista Marconi. The bombs of the Second World War fortunately brought to light the late Gothic characteristics of the chapel of San Gottardo, built between XNUMX and XNUMX. Note the sixteenth-century fresco attributed to Lorenzo Costa the Elder, “The Redeemer and the Prophets”.
Piazza San Leonardo
Visits: Saturday and Sunday 14.30pm-17.30pm

3. HISTORICAL GALLERY OF THE NATIONAL FIREFIGHTING CORPS
Vehicles, ladders, amphibians and much more
Fire engines from 1800 to today
The Gallery is located in Palazzo Ducale. The creation of this exceptional and unexpected museum was not simple, it is due to the passion of Nicola Colangelo who collected artefacts and materials that tell the story of the mobility vehicles of the Fire Brigade, from the beginning of the Corps' activity to the present day. In a true temporal short circuit given that the gallery is located in buildings that were once service areas (ducal stables and stables) and also housed one of the court theatres. To form the collection, it was necessary not only to acquire vehicles and materials from different eras from barracks throughout Italy, but also to restore and order them. Vehicles, ladders, amphibians, helicopters, uniforms, posters, models from the mid-1800s to 1900s.
Largo Fire Brigade, 1
Visits: Saturday 14.30pm-17.30pm Sunday 10am-12.15pm/14.30pm-17.30pm

4. POLIMI@MANTUA
The former convent transformed into a polytechnic
known only to professors and students
The headquarters of the Polytechnic of Milano – Mantua center was born from the union of two ancient buildings, the convent of the Convertites of Santa Maddalena and the orphanage (called the Misericordia Hospital). It will thus be possible to enter and visit environments known so far to professors and students. The convent of Santa Maria Maddalena built in 1540 by Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, conceived as a refuge for girls "subject to scandal", occupied the south wing of the Pio Place della Misericordia. Inside there are fifteenth-century frescoes of the Mantegna school and a wall painting, probably commissioned in the 500th century by Tebaldo Ippoliti (Stable Master of Duke Federico II Gonzaga), which represents one of the last examples of the style before the arrival of Giulio Romano in Mantua in 1524.
Piazza Carlo D'Arco, 3
Visits: Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th October 10am - 12.30pm and 15pm - 17pm.

5. THE PODESTÀ'S PALACE
Absolute preview for the festival
Six splendid new rooms
An absolute preview for the festival and for just two weekends: in fact, for the first time, six rooms of the Palazzo del Podestà open with unpublished frescoes. After the Pila 1 tower designed by Italo Rota, a new opening given that, during the latest restoration works, six rooms were recovered, the result of a long and complex architectural stratification. The first nucleus of the palace was born in the second half of the 1227th century, another of the buildings was built in 400 by the Podestà Laudarengo Martinengo. In the 1942s, Luca Fancelli and Giovanni Antonio d'Arezzo transformed part of the pre-existing building into a crenelated tower, but the architect Aldo Andreani was responsible for the ex novo "reconstruction" of an internal medieval passage in XNUMX.
Piazza Erbe (entrance from via Giustiziati)
Visits: Saturday 21st and 28th October and Sunday 22nd and 29th October 10am-13pm and 14pm-18pm

6. DUCAL PALACE
The Holy Staircase to climb on your knees
which reproduces Saint John in Lateran
In the oldest nucleus of the Doge's Palace there is a miniature reproduction of the Holy Staircase of San Giovanni Laterano in Rome, a place believed for years to be the apartment intended for the dwarves of the Gonzaga Court. It was Duke Ferdinando Gonzaga – second son of Vincenzo I and Eleonora de' Medici, destined for an ecclesiastical career but, after the death of his brother, forced to assume the title of duke – who wanted the Mantuan imitation entrusted to Anton Maria Viani who created a architectural model relevant to that of the Lateran: three parallel stairs leading to the octagonal Sancta Sanctorum. Those who entered these private spaces often did so on their knees and so what was thought to be the dwarfs' apartment is instead a place of personal and intimate devotion.
Piazza Sordello
Visits: Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th October 10am - 12,30pm and 14,30pm - 17pm

7. TEA SPACE. THE GAS WORKSHOPS
The workshops built by the Habsburgs
for city lighting
The space at the meeting between vicolo Stretto and vicolo Barche, where the city connects to via Fondamenta via a short steep ramp, records the name of piazza Gasometro already in a map of Mantua from 1865. Two years earlier, the Austrian administration had chosen this corner on the edge of the urban center to equip the city with a modern gas system necessary to power the new public lighting: the "Offi¬cine del Gaz" was born, today the TEA company. It will be possible to visit the still existing architectural structures of the plant which represent a beautiful testimony of the city's industrial archaeology. The visit will end with a view of the ancient Porto Catena, the commercial heart of the city since the Middle Ages, from which supplies arrived via river.
Gasometer Square
Visits: Sunday 22nd and 29th October 10am - 12,30pm and 14,30pm - 17,30pm

8. SCIENTIFIC THEATER
Natural light for experiments
An unprecedented perspective of the Theatre
The Scientific Theater of Mantua, an absolute masterpiece - and unique in terms of acoustic perfection - of late Baroque architecture, was born from an ambitious renovation project conceived in 1767 by the Accademia dei Timidi. The academics turned to Antonio Galli Bibiena who created for them a theater with four superimposed tiers of boxes around the stalls concluded by a walkable gallery. The hall was used both for concerts and for scientific meetings spanning the city during which the curtains covering the large windows behind the balcony were opened. This will be the new experience that will be obtained during the festival, offering a very different perception from the usual one. You will arrive at the balcony where the academics sat to follow the experiments.
Via Accademia, 47
Visits: Saturday 14th and Sunday 22nd October 10am – 13pm and 14pm – 15.30pm

EXPERIENCES

1. Giulio Romano's fishmongers: the science that enchants in contact with water
Giulio Romano's Pescherie are inextricably linked to the Vie dei Tesori festival which already hosted the reopening of some sections to the public a few years ago. Last year the second lot of restoration work was completed and the view overlooking the Rio delle Pescherie di Levante was transformed in the summer into an open air theater for events. On the occasion of the festival, the Alkemica association which deals with scientific dissemination, will create a series of amazing experiments under the bridge in contact with the water: the laws of nature rendered in a spectacular way. To explain that physics and chemistry can also be intriguing and even fun for everyone and not just for enthusiasts.
Via Pescheria
Saturday 14th and 21st and Sunday 15th and 22nd October 10-11am; 15 -16
Contribution 6 euros

2. The view of the city from an extraordinary private viewpoint
Mantua is a city that expands over the territory, but when the vertical becomes horizontal, the perspective changes radically: the towers, the lake and the roofs of the city will be visible from an extraordinary roof terrace, an elevated viewpoint which however lives in the ancient heart of Mantua. You will be able to take an exciting look at the city by climbing up to a silent private terrace, and even higher up, on a roof terrace, from where you can embrace a wonderful panorama and be enchanted by its magic while listening to the age-old tale suggested by the ancients buildings. A house that is among the highest points in the city, a completely new perspective and usually closed to the public given that it is a private environment.
Via Don Enrico Tazzoli 13
Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th October at 16pm, 16,30pm, 17pm, 17,30pm | contribution 6 euros

3. Martyrs of the Risorgimento: Carlo Poma's letters in the Confortatorio
The “Francesco Campogalliani” Theater Academy reads some of the most intense letters written to family and friends by the Mantuan doctor Carlo Poma, a Mazzinian conspirator sentenced to death by the Austrian government in 1852: Poma was one of the Martyrs of Belfiore, the group of Italian patriots sentenced to death by hanging in Mantua between 1852 and 1855 in the midst of the Risorgimento, by order of the governor general of Lombardy-Veneto, Field Marshal Radetzky. He will be able to enter the "confortatory" where the conversations of those condemned to death took place with the priest Luigi Martini (who narrated them in a series of writings). Carlo Poma's letters are moving documents that take us back to the political climate of the city during the Risorgimento.
Via Giuseppe Mazzini, 42
Sunday 29 October at 18pm | Contribution 6 euros