Parco del Mincio

Mincio and war - Itinerary n. 3

• Trail Conditions: On foot, By bike
• Interest: Hystory

• Departure: Piazza Porta Giulia, Mantova
• Arrival: Piazza Porta Giulia, Mantova
• Length: 21.4 km

At the beginning of the 18th century, the defence capabilities that Mantua had always possessed thanks to its peculiar geography assumed a completely new meaning. In 1708 the Imperial Diet annexed Mantua to the Habsburg Empire: the city suddenly and definitively ceased to be the capital of a duchy, and became a province, appointed as the main stronghold to defend imperial possessions in northern Italy. An extensive process of militarization thus began, which characterized the history of this territory for a long time, and which gradually transformed Mantua into a fortress city. Such process took place especially during the 19th century, when French and Habsburg military engineers designed and realized important works, bastions, fortresses, lunettes, terrepleins and trenches. The fortified system turned the city into an extremely efficient defence mechanism, whose performance was due not only to control over the territory, but to adequate water management, too.