Mantua Cathedral (Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle)

St. Peter's Cathedral in Piazza Sordello

This church in Mantua was dedicated to "San Pietro" - Saint Peter (Peter). Simon, nicknamed Peter (rock), was a fisherman on the Sea of Genesareth when he – together with his brother Andrew – was called by Jesus Christ to be the "fisher of men".
According to Catholic understanding, he is the supreme apostle, and the two millennia-long line of popes – currently Francis – are his successors. On statues and paintings Peter is almost always depicted with two keys in his hand, this attribute refers to the Bible passage in Matthew: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (chapter 16, verse 19).
Peter is also known along with Paul as the "Princes of the Apostles", their common feast day in the calendar of saints is June 29th.

Mantua Cathedral (Italian: Cattedrale di San Pietro apostolo; Duomo di Mantova) is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Saint Peter. It is the seat of the Bishop of Mantua.There was probably a first structure on the site in the early Christian period, followed by a building that was destroyed by fire in 894. The present church was rebuilt in 1395–1401 with the addition of side chapels and a beautiful Gothic west façade, which can still be seen in a sketch by Domenico Morone (preserved in the Palazzo Ducale of Mantua). The bell tower has seven bells tuned in the Bb scale.After another fire in the 16th century, Giulio Romano rebuilt the interior, but preserved the façade, which was replaced in 1756–61 by the present Baroque version in Carrara marble. Notable features of the Renaissance structure are the cusps, decorated with rose windows on the south side, which end at the Gothic bell tower.The Trinity with the Virgin Mary, St. John and Angels by Antonio Maria Viani (fresco in the apse), St. Margaret (1552) by Domenico Brusasorci (canvas in the Sacrament Chapel), St. Martin sharing his cloak with the beggar (1552) by Paolo Farinati, Glory of St. Joseph (1616) by Niccolò Ricciolini, St. Dominic by Bernardino Malpizzi, Madonna dell'Itria by Antonio Maria Viani, St. Aloysius Gonzaga by Ippolito AndreasiLudovico I Gonzaga, Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua.
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