Bosco della Fontana: the Gonzaga forest on Mantua's doorstep

Before the fields, the Po Valley was forest. Books say so, and it is hard to picture — until you step in here. The Bosco della Fontana is one of the few surviving fragments of that lowland forest: a few hundred hectares of oaks, hornbeams and silence, a handful of kilometres from Mantua. Today it is a protected nature reserve; five centuries ago it was the hunting ground of the Gonzaga.

From that age remains the wood's most photographed sight: the hunting lodge, a small turreted castle planted where the avenues cross. Reaching it on foot, light falling between the trunks, is not what you expect ten minutes from a city.

The walk

The wood asks no effort: the paths are flat, wide and shaded, and the main avenues draw a cross that makes getting lost impossible. It is the right place for a slow morning — pushchair included — or for a summer early afternoon, when everything melts outside and in here it is three degrees cooler.

Those who look, find: woodpeckers, squirrels, roe deer with a little luck, and in spring an understorey that changes face every week. The oldest oaks carry a few centuries on their shoulders — you spot them at once, they are the ones that stop your gaze.

From Beatilla, on foot

Our farmhouse borders this story: from the courtyard you reach the wood directly on foot, no car involved. It is the walk we suggest to guests arriving in the evening who want to stretch their legs before dinner — or to early risers, breakfast basket still in hand.

It is the simplest way to understand where you are: before even visiting Mantua, a forest that was here before all of us. Then, on the way back, the rest of the day takes care of itself.