Firefighters' Gallery

The Historic Gallery of the National Corps of Fire Brigade is housed in a pertinence of the great complex of the Ducal Palace of Mantua. In particular, the building appears in the perspective plan of the city made by Gabriele Bertazzolo in 1596. His first destination was the court stables. Later, after the Gonzaga dynasty, the building belonged to the Treasury, and in the nineteenth century it was incorporated into the Station for Cavalry and Artillery. From 1889 it was once again used as a stable.
Today, the ancient walls are home to an extraordinary collection of vehicles, light vehicles, ships and planes that document the evolution over time of the firefighters' equipment that operated and operate for the salvation of the community. Naturally, the whole is accompanied by a series of additional testimonies, stored in special windows. It should be remembered that modern firefighters originated from a medieval guild of very long life, called the Brentatori. The 'brente' were large containers usually used for the transport of wine, but that during fires proved to be particularly useful for bringing the water that these fires could tame. The Corps of Firefighters was established in Mantua in 1832: from the first bases of voluntary work it underwent a rapid evolution, which brought it to today's extreme professionalism.