Ponte dei Mulini, Mantua

45°10′1″N 10°47′30″E / 45.16694°N 10.79167°E / 45.16694; 10.79167The Ponte dei Mulini is the name attached to the mainly man-made separations made across the Mincio River at Mantua, region of Lombardy, Italy.

Circa the year 1188, the architect Alberto Pitentino designed a series of dams to flood the swampy area North and West of the medieval city of Mantua.

Use of the kinetic energy of the water flow was directed through at least 12 dozen mills, each named after a separate apostle, built along the dam.

During the wars of the Visconti and Gonzaga in the 14th century, one effort was to try to rechannel the Mincio, but the effort failed and a breached dam cause a portion of the structure to be damaged, leading to the construction of a rounded dam called della rota.

At the north end of the bridge, circa 1530, Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua commissioned from Giulio Romano construction of a fortress, Porta Giulia, defending access to the city.