Piazza Sordello, Mantua

Spacious town square between Palazzo Ducale, cathedral with bishop's palace and old town, named after the most important Italian troubadour of the 13th century, who came from the Mantua area.
As large and impressive as the square may seem, it was and is not the urban center of Mantua, was never a market square and never had political significance - completely different from the Piazza dell 'Erbe.

Piazza Sordello, formerly called Piazza San Pietro, is now dedicated to the Lombard poet and troubadur Sordello da Goito and is located on the site where the ancient city used to be, in the heart of Mantua.

Where once there were only houses and alleys, today a large piazza opens up, adjoining some of the city's most important buildings. This piazza continues in one direction into two other squares and together with them forms the core of the old town of Mantua today: one is the Piazza delle Erbe and the other is the Piazza del Broletto.

Although there are also some elements from the 18th century on this piazza, it is strongly influenced by the Middle Ages. On the east side you can see two buildings with arcades, which were built at the end of the 13th century by order of the Bonacolsi, who ruled the city at that time. The whole thing is completed by the Palazzo del Capitano and the Domus Magna, which are part of the Ducal Palace (Palazzo Ducale), as well as by the Palazzo Acerbi with the "cage tower" (Torre del Gabbia) and finally by the cathedral, which is the northern end of the Piazza forms.

Piazza Sordello was built in 1330 after demolishing old houses. At that time it was still called Piazza San Pietro.
The architecture of the square mainly dates from the late Middle Ages.