The fourth province that overlooks the Lake Garda is MantuaMantuan hills. Over the centuries, many lakeside towns did business with the inland area of Mantua, and signs of this exchange are especially visible in the local cuisine. One can easily and quickly reach Mantua from the lower lake area: it takes just a little over one-half hour to travel to the capital of the plains. According to legend, Mantus the seer fled from Thebes, arrived in the grasslands of the Mincio River and founded the city of Mantua.

The city was first mentioned in historical documents due to the Etruscans, shrewd merchants who arrived in search of iron, and the Romans. Virgil was the most famous person of the period. The city was later dominated by the Longobard and Carolingian cultures, but it only became a capital of the area in the year 1000 due to Matilde di Canossa. Mantua is famous for its palazzos. These symbols of power built according to the strictest aesthetic rules are extraordinary examples of art. In the four centuries of their dynasty, the Gonzaga family turned Mantua into a city-court, with a palace of over 500 opulent rooms, roof gardens and inner courtyards.

The territory of Mantua is characterized by the slow, sinuous flow of the Mincio and Po Rivers. The plains are interrupted by parks and thick woods on the gently sloping hills of Garda. The lovely lakes of Mantua are crisscrossed by tourist ferryboats that navigate down the Mincio River, travel past Ferrara, then sail up to Venice on the Adriatic Sea.
Another treasure is its cuisine: many Italian and foreign connoisseurs consider Mantua the home of some of Italy's best traditional recipes. Created for princes or peasants, its food - be it simple or lavish - is always made from the wholesome ingredients produced by the generous, fertile soil of Mantua.

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