Mantua - Sant'Andrea

In Piazza Mantegna, in the center of Mantua, stands the church of Sant'Andrea, a masterpiece of Early Renaissance architecture built by Leon Battista Alberti in 1472-94, with a transept and choir of 1600, and a dome of 1782. The white marble facade, in the style of a classical temple, has beside it the earlier Gothic tower of red brick (1413). The interior, with its massive barrel vault, is of imposing effect.

In the first chapel on the left is the tomb of Mantegna, with a bronze bust; in the last chapel on the right are frescoes by Giulio Romano. From Piazza Mantegna the arcaded Corso Umberto I, the town's principal shopping and business street, leads west to Piazza Cavallotti, from which the Corso della Libertà, a wide street built over an old canal, runs to Piazza Martiri di Belfiori.