Mantova - Rotonda di San Lorenzo

Mantua (ital. Mantova) was a settlemt on the banks of River Mincio in Etruscan times. In Roman times veteran soldiers were placed here. About 70 BC the Roman poet Virgil was born nearby.

After the end of the Roman Empire Mantua was invaded in turn by Goths, Byzantines, Longobards, and Franks. In the 11th century, Mantua became a possession of Boniface of Canossa, marquis of Tuscany.

During the 12th century the course of the River Mincio was altered, creating lakes, to reinforce the city's natural protection. Three of these lakes still remains today.

Under the House of Gonzaga, that ruled Mantua for more than three centuries (sometimes in a very despotic way), the city developed and became a center of Renaissance art. At the end of the long war of the Mantuan Succession the city was under Austrian rule.

Mantua was part of the Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy, the city returned to Austria in 1814. A revolt against the Austrians was suppressed by the Austrian army in 1855. Finally in 1866 Mantua and the Lombardy were incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy.

The "Rotonda di San Lorenzo" is the oldest structure in Mantua, going back to the 11th century. This was during the reign of the Canossa family, so the building is often connected to Matilda of Canossa (aka "Matilda of Tuscany"), a powerful supporter of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy. But actually there is no proof.
The design is for sure inspired by the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem.

The church fell in disrepair and got deconsecrated in 1579. It was used as a storage room, dwellings and shops. About two centuries later, the church was completely forgotten but got rediscovered end of the 19th century. 1909 - 1911 the building got reconstructed. All external additions got removed, so the brickwork, typical for lombardian architecture of the 11th century, van be seen. As the roof was missing, designs from other rotundas in Northern Italy were studied - and so today the church looks perfect.

The rotunda is "sunken" below the street level. A flight of stairs runs down to the entrance. The reason may be, that the church was built on the round foundations of an ancient Roman temple, dedicated to Venus.