Goito

Goito stands at a crossing of the Mincio north of Mantua, where the ancient Via Postumia ran between Cremona and Verona. Its fortress guarded a route through the northern Mantuan lands. The troubadour Sordello was born here to a knightly family in the late twelfth century.

The Gonzaga of Mantua held Goito as a stronghold. After defeating a rival near the town in 1453, Ludovico III Gonzaga restored its fortifications, built a residence and had a local canal dug; Andrea Mantegna worked at the residence in 1463–64. During the War of the Mantuan Succession, Goito surrendered to imperial forces in 1629. French and Venetian troops failed to relieve it at Villabuona the following year, and war and plague contributed to the town's decline.