The first court of the city
The palace is the civic heart of the architectural complexes that arose with the Free Municipality of Mantua in the early 13th century. It was primarily used as a courthouse or to host city assemblies and gatherings, but often as a covered market. The current façade is the result of a series of renovations carried out over the centuries. The last one dates back to the early 20th century, designed by Carlo and Aldo Andreani, who erased the Renaissance and Baroque traces, restoring it to a medieval style ideal. In 13th-century documents, Palace of Reason It is also known as the New Palace. The palace is also called Palazzo delle Biade (Palace of the Grains), because some rooms were used for collecting and sorting grain from the surrounding countryside, which was to be sold at the city market; on rainy days, the grain was sold on the upper floor of the palace itself.
During the Gonzaga era it continued to be used as the seat of the administration of justice.
A medieval palace in the center of Mantua.
The façade features a large 15th-century portico and a series of triple lancet windows on the main floor, while battlements complete the upper section of the building. The interior follows the style of medieval palaces in Northern Italy: a single, large frescoed hall with scenes of warriors and figures of prophets, dating from the same period of construction.
The new museum of contemporary art in the heart of the city.
In the halls of the Palazzo della Ragione the Sonnabend Collection Mantua, the permanent collection developed by Ileana Sonnabend: eleven rooms reconstruct the visionary journey of the patron by hosting iconic masterpieces of American art, such as Figure 8 by Jasper Johns (1958), Little Aloha by Roy Lichtenstein (1962), Campbell's Soup by Andy Warhol (1962), Kite by Robert Rauschenberg, which are exhibited alongside seminal works of Pop Art by artists such as Jim Dine, James Rosenquist and Tom Wesselmann and together with contemporary research in Italy by artists such as Michelangelo Pistoletto and Mario Schifano.
Visit the site https://www.sonnabendmantova.it/it