Gradaro's Church

This church is one of the oldest in Mantua. Situated far from the heart of the Gonzaga residence, its location only serves to bring out the beautiful gabled façade which can be seen when you reach the fence that once enclosed the site of the convent of the Canons of San Marco. It was these religious figures that decided that this place of worship, with distant origins, should be reconstructed. This area is associated with the memory of St. Longinus, the soldier who, having wounded Christ on the cross with a lance and having been healed with his blood, lived in Italy under the Roman empire and was martyred and buried in the city together with the blood of the Saviour, which was at the time one of the most prominent Christian relics.