The Siege of Mantua

Eight-month blockade gave Napoleon control of northern Italy

French painter Hippolyte Lecomte's depiction of 
Austria's surrender to the French at the end of the siege

Troops led by one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s top generals laid siege to the city of Mantua on this day in 1796 in what would unfold as the defining hub of the French military leader’s victorious First Italian Campaign.

Following two months of lightning aggressive actions by Napoleon’s forces,  Austria’s allies in Piedmont were forced to surrender, the Austrians themselves were driven out of Milan and then fled into the mountains of Tyrol to the north.

But a garrison of 14,000 Austrian soldiers remained in Mantua, a fortress city largely surrounded by water that was key to control of northern Italy.

The Austrian retreat meant Mantua was isolated, at which point French divisions under General Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier moved to force Austrian outposts to withdraw into the city, which on June 4 was completely surrounded. 

The Mantua garrison had been Austria’s insurance against invasion by Napoleon from Italy, meaning any attempt to do so was a risk he could not take. But isolating it proved to be an act of strategic genius on his part. 

It led the Austrians to make repeated attempts to relieve their stranded garrison, each one leaving them weaker.

The first, led by forces under the command of Count Dagobert von Wurmser, was crushed by Napoleon’s army in defeats at the Battles of Lonato and Castiglione, south of Lake Garda.

The second, again led by Wurmser, suffered another defeat at the Battle of Bassano, after which the Austrian field marshal decided against retreating towards his own territory in favour of continuing towards Mantua, almost 120km (72 miles) south. 

Napoleon at the Battle of Arcole by
French artist Antoine-Jean Gros

Napoleon’s forces chased them all the way, eventually forcing them inside the city. It swelled the garrison to almost 30,000, but the siege remained in place and there was not enough food to go round. Meanwhile, malaria - spread by mosquitoes from the surrounding lake and swamps - was rife. Within six weeks, some 4,000 Austrians had died, either from untreated wounds, disease or malnutrition.

After that, it was the turn of another Austrian commander, Baron Jozsef Alvinczi, to attempt to break the siege and re-establish Austrian control. 

Against an army of 24,000, Napoleon’s outnumbered army was stretched. It suffered heavy losses but somehow managed to win a long, attritional fight at the Battle of Arcole, southeast of Verona, before his brilliant tactics routed Alvinczi’s forces at the Battle of Rivoli, 50km (30 miles) to the northwest.

With Alvinczi's army destroyed, no hope of rescue left, and the Mantua garrison devastated by disease, in February, 1797, Wurmser finally capitulated. The French captured over 13,000 prisoners and 500 artillery pieces.

With no major Austrian army left in Italy, Napoleon could now march towards Vienna. Austria, exhausted and isolated, sued for peace, leading to the Treaty of Campo Formio, which controversially saw Napoleon hand control of Venice to Austria, spelling the end of the Venetian Republic after 1,100 years.

Thus, Austrian rule in northern Italy was ended, at least temporarily. They would regain it less than 20 years later.

Mantua's Basilica of Sant'Andrea, 
which was built in the 15th century

Travel tip: 

Mantua is an atmospheric city in Lombardy, about 150km (90 miles) to the southeast of Milan. In the 6th century BC it was an Etruscan village, its name deriving from the Etruscan god Mantus. It was in turn ruled by Romans - the poet, Virgil, was born near the city in 70BC - Byzantines, Longobards and Franks, before passing through the hands of the Canossa, Bonacolsi and Gonzaga families. The Renaissance Palazzo Ducale was the seat of the Gonzaga family between 1328 and 1707. The Camera degli Sposi is decorated with frescoes by Andrea Mantegna, depicting the life of Ludovico III Gonzaga and his family, who ruled Mantua for 34 years in the 15th century. The nearby 15th century Basilica of Sant’Andrea was originally built to accommodate the large number of pilgrims who came to Mantua to see a precious relic, an ampoule containing what were believed to be drops of Christ’s blood mixed with earth. The basilica, in Piazza Mantegna, houses the tomb of Andrea Mantegna, who was buried in the first chapel on the left, which contains a picture of the Holy Family and John the Baptist that had been painted by him. Elsewhere, the Palazzo Te is a fine example of the Mannerist school of architecture, the masterpiece of the architect Giulio Romano. The name for the palace came about because the location chosen had been the site of the Gonzaga family stables at Isola del Te on the edge of the marshes just outside Mantua’s city walls.

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One of Bassano del Grappa's main squares is
the Piazza Libertà, pictured here at night 

Travel tip:

Bassano del Grappa is an historic town at the foot of Monte Grappa in the Vicenza province of the Veneto, famous for inventing grappa, a spirit made from the grape skins and stalks left over from wine production, which is popular with Italians as an after dinner drink to aid digestion. The town’s main attraction is the Ponte degli Alpini, also known as the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge across the Brenta river designed in 1569 by Andrea Palladio. It has been rebuilt several times after being damaged or destroyed by wars but always to the original design. The wooden bridge was the site of farewells for Alpini soldiers heading to the front in World War One, and Bassano still honours the thousands who never returned. Next to the bridge is the Grapperia Nardini, founded in 1779 and said to be Italy’s oldest distillery. Visitors can taste classic grappa, the local liqueur Tagliatella, and the signature cocktail Mezzo e Mezzo. The two main squares, which link to one another, are the Piazza Libertà and Piazza Garibaldi. Bassano developed as a medieval trading centre, later flourishing under Venetian rule, which shaped its architecture and craft traditions.

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More reading:

Napoleon’s victory at the Battle of Rivoli

Napoleon crowns himself King of Italy

The execution of Joachim Murat, key aide of Napoleon

Also on this day:

1463: The death of historian Flavio Biondo

1604: The birth of Claudia de’ Medici, Archduchess of Tyrol

1895: The birth of Fascist politician Dino Grandi

1966: The birth of soprano Cecilia Bartoli

1970: The birth of Olympic skiing champion Deborah Compagnoni

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Girolamo Benivieni – poet

Follower of Plato, Dante and Savonarola

Girolamo Benivieni, pictured as an old man in
a painting attributed to Ridolfo Ghirlandaio

The poet Girolamo Benivieni, who turned Marsilio Ficino’s translation of Plato’s Symposium into verse, was born on this day in 1453 in Florence.

His poem was to influence other writers during the Renaissance and some who came later.

As a member of the Florentine Medici circle, Benivieni was a friend of the Renaissance humanists Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Angelo Poliziano, commonly known as Polician.

Ficino translated Plato’s Symposium in about 1474 and wrote his own commentary on the work.

Benivieni summarised Ficino’s work in the poem De lo amore celeste - Of Heavenly Love - These verses then became the subject of a commentary by Pico della Mirandola.

As a result of all these works, Platonism reached such writers as Pietro Bembo and Baldassare Castiglione and the English poet, Edmund Spencer.

Benivieni later fell under the spell of Girolamo Savonarola, the fiery religious reformer, and he rewrote some of his earlier sensual poetry as a result. He also translated a treatise by Savonarola into Italian, Della semplicità della vita cristiana - On the Simplicity of the Christian life - and he wrote some religious poetry of his own.

Benivieni's tombstone behind the statue of
Savonarola in the Church of San Marco

He took part in Savonarola’s Bonfire of the Vanities and documented the destruction of art works worth ‘several thousand ducats’ at the time.

Lucrezia de’ Medici supported him in his writing and they shared an interest in the works of Dante Alighieri. In 1506 Benivieni published an edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy with maps by Antonio Manetti and commentaries by Benivieni and Manetti.

He drafted a letter for Lucrezia to send to her brother, Pope Leo X, seeking his assistance in bringing Dante’s body back to Florence from Ravenna where he was buried.

Benivieni also used his connection with Lucrezia to advance his ideas on church reform with her brother, and later with her cousin, Pope Clement VII.

In 1530 he wrote a letter to Pope Clement in defence of Savonarola, seeking to have his reputation restored within the Church.

He died in 1542, a few months before his 90th birthday and was buried in the Church of San Marco in Florence next to his friend, Pico della Mirandola.

The Church of San Marco in Florence is close to where
the fiery priest Girolamo Savonarola lived

Travel tip:

The Church of San Marco, where Girolamo Benivieni and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola are buried together, is in Piazza di San Marco to the north of the Galleria dell’Accademia, which houses Michalangelo’s David. The original tombstone is in Latin. It says: ‘Here lies Giovannni Mirandola; known both at the Tagus and the Ganges and maybe even the antipodes. He died in 1494 and lived for thirty-two years. Girolamo Benivieni, to prevent separate places from disjointing after death the bones of those whose souls were joined by Love while living, provided for this grave where he too is buried. He died in 1542 and lived for eighty-nine years and six months.’ Next to the church is the convent of San Marco, now the Museo Nazionale di San Marco, where Savonarola and the painters, Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolomeo, once lived.

The tomb of Dante Alighieri adjoins the
Basilica of San Francesco in Ravenna

Travel tip:

A tomb built for Dante in the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence still remains empty. Dante died while living in exile in Ravenna in about 1321. He was buried at the Church of San Pier Maggiore in Ravenna and a tomb was erected there for him in 1483. Florence has made repeated requests for the return of Dante’s remains to the city but Ravenna has always refused.


More reading:

The Bonfire of the Vanities - preacher Savonarola's war on Renaissance 'excesses'

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola – the philosopher who wrote the 'Manifesto of the Renaissance'

Pietro Bembo - the poet and scholar who became Lucrezia Borgia's lover

Also on this day:

1577: The birth of Roman heroine Beatrice Cenci

1778: The birth of the poet and revolutionary Ugo Foscolo

1908: The birth of six-times Italian prime minister Amintore Fanfani


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Baldassare Castiglione – courtier and diplomat

Writer left a definitive account of life at court in Renaissance Italy

Baldassare Castiglione, the author of the Italian classic, The Book of the Courtier, was born on this day in 1478 near Mantua in Lombardy.

Raphael's portrait of Castiglione
now housed in the Louvre in Paris

His book about etiquette at court and the ideal of the Renaissance gentleman, has been widely read over the years and was even a source of material for Shakespeare after it was translated into English.

Castiglione was born into a noble household and was related on his mother’s side to the powerful Gonzaga family of Mantua. After studying in Milan he succeeded his father as head of the family and was soon representing the Gonzaga family diplomatically.

As a result he met Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, and later took up residence in his court, which was regarded as the most refined and elegant in Italy at the time and received many distinguished guests.

The court was presided over by the Duke’s wife, Elisabetta Gonzaga, who impressed Castiglione so much that he wrote platonic sonnets and songs for her.

During this time he also became a friend of the painter, Raphael, who painted a portrait of him.

Castiglione later took part in an expedition against Venice organised by Pope Julius II during the Italian wars and was then sent by Pope Clement VI as a papal ambassador to Madrid. He died after contracting the plague in Toledo in 1529.

His book, Il Libro del Cortegiano, The Book of the Courtier, was published in 1528, the year before he died. It was written in the form of an imaginary dialogue between Elisabetta Gonzaga and her guests. Some readers have seen it as a guide to how to behave in society, while others have interpreted it as a philosophical work. But Castiglione has undoubtedly left us with a definitive and fascinating account of Renaissance court life.

Travel tip:

Mantua, the capital of the art-loving Gonzaga dukes, is an atmospheric city in Lombardy with many interesting things to see. The highlight is the magnificent Ducal Palace, which dominates the northern part of the city. It has about 500 rooms, which include the remarkable Camera degli Sposi, adorned with frescoes by Andrea Mantegna.

The imposing Ducal Palace in Urbino
Photo by Florian Prischi (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Travel Tip:

Urbino, which is inland from the Adriatic resort of Pesaro, is a majestic city on a steep hill.  It was once a centre of learning and culture, known not just in Italy but also in its glory days throughout Europe. The Ducal Palace, a Renaissance building made famous by Castiglione’s 'The Book of the Courtier', is one of the most important monuments in Italy and is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.

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