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.