Mantua and Sabbioneta

Two faces of Renaissance urbanism sit 30 kilometres apart in the Po plain, both stamped by the Gonzaga dynasty. Mantua grew organically, wrapping lakes, an 11th-century rotunda and the frescoed Palazzo Ducale into an evolving townscape; Sabbioneta was willed into being in the later 16th century by Vespasiano Gonzaga as a brand-new ideal city on a strict grid. UNESCO joined the pair in a single World Heritage inscription in 2008 for what they reveal about Renaissance ideas of the city.