Blessed Osanna Andreasi's House

The coat of arms of the noble Andreasi family, as is visible in this capital dating to the 15th century, was a swan accompanied by a star. The family had a very long history: some speak of Longobard origins, others claim the family was originally from Hungary. It is said that in the 12th century the brothers Trumanno and Alberto served Frederick Barbarossa as mercenaries, and that they were given lands in the district of Mantua. A series of descendants followed and in the 15th century thirty-four families bore the same name. One of the most famous figures in this history is the secretary Marsilio Andreasi, who is represented in the Bridal Chamber of the Ducal Palace, a man who was close to the marquise Ludovico. However, here the interest must be focused on the ancestors of Osanna, originally from Carbonara, a small village near the river Po. Niccolò Cappa Andreasi, Osanna’s father, also from Carbonara, bought a house in Mantua in 1475; this is the house we can admire today. It is worth noting that Osanna’s branch of the family soon died out, while a different line thrived and in the course of the centuries gave birth to Luigia, born in 1761. She married Gian Battista Magnaguti. A series of inheritances meant the building was eventually owned by Alessandro Magnaguti, born in 1887, who renovated it in 1926. In 1966, a few months before dying, he donated the main floor to the Provincia Domenicana Utriusque Lombardiae. In 1991, the same Provincia Domenicana acquired the rest of the building.