The Villa Te of Mantua, a name derived from the locality “Teieto” meaning hut place, is one of the city’s must-visit sites. It is an ancient villa that represents a true gem of Renaissance and post-Raphaelesque Mannerist architecture.
The Palazzo Te is a low, square-shaped residential villa, built between 1525 and 1526 by the architect Giulio Romano commissioned by a wealthy and enlightened landowner, Federico II Gonzaga, son of Isabella d’Este. Besides designing the villa, Federico also commissioned Romano to decorate the interiors. It took about ten years to complete the work.
What to See at Palazzo Te Mantua
Vaulted or gilded wooden ceilings, grotesques and stuccoes, frescoes, medallions, decorations with shells and mosaics, stucco panels, are all distinctive features of Palazzo Te. The project also saw contributions from great artists of the era, such as Andrea Mantegna who painted the villa’s Camera degli Sposi.
Each room is a masterpiece that leaves visitors amazed. Following a thematic route, you move from the Hall of the Sun to that of Love and Psyche, from the Room of the Eagles or Fetente to the Hall of the Horses. Finally, you reach the most spectacular and famous one, the Hall of the Giants, decorated with a fresco depicting Jupiter’s victory over the Titans.
The work was painted by Giulio Romano as if in a continuous, spherical space without any separation between the walls, vault and floor, creating an extraordinary virtual reality in which the visitor seems fully immersed.
The building is low and square in plan. Behind a central courtyard extends a very large garden enclosed by an exedra. The facades are classic and the most characteristic aspect is the use of bricks creating a rusticated effect. Access to the building is from the northern side of Palazzo Te, through a vestibule with three arches atop a short flight of stairs.
Palazzo Te, Loggia of the Muses and Hall of the Sun
Then you enter the loggia of the Muses and from there the Hall of the Sun, its vault divided into diamonds with beautiful stucco figures. Next is the Chamber of the Enterprises. On the fireplace, you can notice the salamander, often repeated in the following rooms.
Next is the Room of Ovid or Metamorphoses, decorated with scenes from the poet’s work. Returning to the loggia of the Muses, you enter the Hall of the Horses, the largest room, used for receptions, so called because the horses of the Gonzaga stables are splendidly frescoed here. The ceiling is gilded and polychrome wood.
The image of the salamander, believed to be little affected by the flames of love that tortured the Gonzaga, recurs here.
Palazzo Te, Love and Psyche by Apuleius
Next is the Hall of Love and Psyche, a dining room decorated with episodes from Apuleius’ Golden Ass. Much smaller is the Hall of the Zodiac, with stucco panels and medallions depicting the Horoscopes. Giulio Romano himself, along with some pupils, worked in these rooms. Next is the Room of the Eagles or Phaeton, perhaps a bedroom, exquisitely decorated, and then the Great Loggia, which divides the courtyard from the garden, where fishponds and the enclosing exedra can be seen.
At the far left is the small Grotto apartment, named after a grotto once adorned with decorations of shells and mosaics.
From the Great Loggia you pass through the Hall of Stuccoes and then that of Caesar, with a fresco on the vault (Caesar burning Pompey’s letters) and figures of Roman emperors on the walls. From this room you enter the most spectacular and famous among those conceived by Giulio Romano’s exuberant fantasy: the Hall of the Giants.
Architecture disappears in front of the pictorial representation that merges the vault with the walls, showing Jupiter’s victory over the mad pride of the Titans (the scene is a flattery towards Emperor Charles V). The hall enjoys unique acoustics. Following are some small rooms decorated with stuccoes.
Palazzo Te Museum
The visit to Palazzo Te can be combined with that of the Civic Museum, which preserves an interesting Egyptian collection, the Gonzaga numismatic collection, the Mondadori collection, the legacy of the painter Antonio Ruggero Giorgi, and the Gallery of Modern Art.
