Nature Reimagined: Leonardo, Arcimboldo and Caravaggio in Mantua

9:00 a.m. – Departure from Bologna
10:30 a.m. – Arrival in Mantua

10:45–11:45 a.m. – Palazzo Te
Guided tour of the exhibition Inventing Nature: Leonardo, Arcimboldo, Caravaggio, displayed in the palace’s monumental rooms as the culmination of its 500th-anniversary celebrations.

What did nature represent in the sixteenth century? Seven thematic sections—Creating, Destroying, Sensing, Reproducing, Knowing, Amazing, and Animating—explore the different ways in which nature was understood during the Renaissance: as an instrument of divine will and a destructive force; as an object of scientific inquiry and collecting; and as a source of curiosity and courtly entertainment. The exhibition also examines the role of artistic practice as a means of understanding, controlling and imitating nature.

12:00–12:40 p.m. – Leon Battista Alberti’s Temple
Visit to the Church of San Sebastiano, the first building in Mantua designed by Leon Battista Alberti, widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of Renaissance architecture.

1:15 p.m. – Lunch at a traditional local restaurant

2:45–3:45 p.m. – Walk through Mantua’s historic centre
Piazza Sordello, the exterior of the Ducal Palace and the streets of the old town.

4:00 p.m. – Departure from Mantua
5:30 p.m. – Return to Bologna