Te Palace - Virtual Tour 360°

Te Palace (Palazzo Te) is a historic and monumental building in Mantua.

Built between 1524 and 1534 on commission of Federico II Gonzaga, it is the most famous work of the Italian architect Giulio Romano.

The complex is now home to the civic museum and, since 1990, to the International Center of Art and Culture of Palazzo Te which organizes exhibitions of ancient and modern art and architecture.

The first evidence of the presence of the tea factory dates back to 1526, when a building under construction is mentioned which stands near the city, between the lakes, on the direction of the Church and the Palazzo di San Sebastiano.

The area was swampy and lacustrine, but the Gonzagas had it reclaimed and Francesco II chose it as a training ground for his prized and beloved horses. When his father died and became lord of Mantua, Frederick II, his son, decided to transform the island into a place for recreation, rest and festive receptions together with the most illustrious guests and where he could escape from institutional duties together with his lover. Isabella Boschetti.

Accustomed as he had been since childhood to the ease and refinement of Roman villas, the architect painter Giulio Romano and some of his collaborators, including Raffaellino del Colle with whom he had worked on Rome following Raphael. Alternating the architectural elements with the natural ones that the area offered, sublimely decorating rooms and facades, the architect expressed all his imagination and skill in the construction of Palazzo Te.

Other painters collaborated in the rooms of the palace, including: Raffaele Albarini, Giorgio Anselmi, Francesco Primaticcio, Fermo Ghisoni, Giovan Francesco Penni, Gerolamo Staffieri, Benedetto Pagni, Rinaldo Mantovano, Giovan Battista Mantovano.

On the occasion of the visit of Charles V, Giulio Romano was commissioned to reunite the Palace with the castle through a new series of rooms, galleries, stairways, loggias and courtyards.

Map: Te Palace - Virtual Tour 360°