Mantagnana - Walled City in the Veneto · Jun 12, 10:17 AM by James Martin
Just when you think you’ve been everywhere in Italy worth visiting, another walled city pops up.
We were driving to Chioggia when the road veered suddenly right. After gawking a bit, we realized that we were being taken around a walled city, rectangular in shape, on a road just outside the dried-up moat, now green with grass. We had to stop of course; it was lunch time.
We had a filling and inexpensive lunch just outside the walls—nothing to write home about. Then we went into Mantagnana through a medieval gate.
There was a wonderful market square with a Gothic Cathedral (1431-1502) and a guard tower that had been made into a youth hostel. You could walk to the top and see the city from about 7 stories up. There was some medieval siege machinery lying about. In the market square sat a gelato joint that was rocking, even though the spring day wasn’t that hot.
Montagnana evidently hosts a traditional “Palio” (horse-race and costumed procession) on the first Sunday in September, although the web site isn’t updated for 2008 yet.
Wandering Italy—sometimes just driving or walking around is the best way to find interesting stuff.
Bedtime for Unicorns Garbage in Italy
