Hello friends!
This post is to conclude the things I saw during my trip to Mantua, in Lombardy, this splendid city has reserved me many surprises like this last attraction of which I did not even know the existence but which was included in the ticket I had purchased to access Palazzo Te, a place I had already told you about in the first post of this small series that I had shared here.
Today, I will talk to you about the Alberti temple known as the temple of San Sebastiano, which practically had to become a very important church in Mantua in reality its project by Leon Battista Alberti one of the most famous Renaissance architects, as I was telling you the construction began in 1460 on commission of Ludovico II Gonzaga but in reality after a few years and after the death of Alberti it remained a little incomplete and a little stripped of the beauty that was the main characteristic of the Gonzaga palaces.
As you can see from some photos I took inside there are no frescoes, there are no decorations which is very strange for the time because we were in the Renaissance so there was a tendency to do very sumptuous things.
With a ticket I was only able to visit the upper part of the church because in reality this had some lower parts with an independent access but the guide explained to me that it cannot be accessed because after the earthquake of 2012 the lower part was no longer fixed.
Probably initially the destination of the temple was to become the sepulchre of the Gonzaga family, where this great family was supposed to put the tombs in reality today after the restoration of 1920 it has become a shrine to the fallen in fact inside there is a monument to the fallen of the various wars.
Let's say that as a visit it was very interesting because I didn't know of the existence of this Temple, it is even said that Ludovico according to Gonzaga had a vision in a dream and therefore wanted to build this place as a thank you, Too bad that in my opinion it should be set up a little better to make it a little more interesting inside because in the end I was inside for 10 minutes and I had already visited it, the thing that struck me in particular was the structure and the exterior even if the two stairs were placed after the restoration of 1920 so an important change was made at an architectural level.
Anyway I hope you will visit it Also because it is included in the ticket, and it is always something unique at least in Italy because I have never seen anything like this.
See you next time!!