The Palazzo del Te in Mantua was designed by Giulio Romano, a pupil of Raphael, for Federico II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua. Construction ran from 1524 to 1534, with the shell going up in eighteen months and decoration taking about ten years.
The article calls the style Mannerist, combining palace and villa architecture, with rusticated walls, flat pilasters and spezzato plaster. A square house has a cloistered courtyard, and a formal garden with colonnades ends in a semicircular exedra. The frescoes in the Sala di Psiche, Sala dei Cavalli and Sala dei Giganti are principal interiors.
Emperor Charles V visited in 1530 and made Federico Duke of Mantua. An Imperial army sacked the palace over three days in July 1630, leaving it looted and empty. Part of it houses the Museo Civico del Palazzo Te, and the article gives no hours or ticket details.
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