Piazza Virgiliana, Mantua

The park has a number of tree-lined trails, and commemorative statues, most prominent of which is a monument to Virgil with flanking fountains.

Prior to the Napoleonic occupation of Mantua, the region was a swampy inlet of the waters of Lago di Mezzo, and was occupied in part by the suppressed monastery of Sant'Agnese and an embankment on which was the church of Santa Maria dell'Argine.

In 1797, the occupying French general, Sextius Alexandre François de Miollis, filled in the swamp and entrusted Paolo Pozzo to design a park for ambulation with marble benches along rows of trees.

This Piazza Virgiliana was inaugurated on March 21, 1801, and displayed a bronze bust of the Ancient Roman poet atop a high column, placed near the site of the present monument.

Ultimately in 1919 the amphitheater was demolished and the current Carrara marble monument designed by the architect Luca Beltrami was erected with a large bronze statue by Milanese sculptor Emilio Quadrelli.