Mantua is a city of palaces, churches, and paintings. The enormous Palazzo Ducale — once home to the Gonzaga family — sprawls across the northeast corner of the old town with hundreds of rooms, courtyards, and gardens; Andrea Mantegna's Camera degli Sposi, with its illusionistic ceiling, is the highlight. Across town, Palazzo Te is a Mannerist masterpiece by Giulio Romano, with fantastical frescoed rooms including the jaw-dropping Sala dei Giganti.
The churches are worth seeking out too: the Basilica di Sant'Andrea (designed by Alberti) and the Romanesque Rotonda di San Lorenzo are architectural landmarks. The Lovers of Valdaro — two Neolithic skeletons buried in an embrace 5,000 years ago — are displayed in the Palazzo Ducale museum. On Piazza Sordello, the medieval Torre della Gabbia still has its iron cage suspended from the exterior. Several smaller museums and galleries round out a city that rewards slow exploration.