In order to fight any further diffusion of COVID-19, public and private meetings are strongly discouraged in all the country.
People must stay at home. A distance of a meter or so is kept in case of any personal encounters. Webcams have temporarily become the default communication tool.
Shops, bars, restaurants, museums, exhibitions, theaters, concert halls and cinemas are closed till Monday, April 13 at least; so are schools and universities. Supermarkets, pharmacies, tobacconists and computer shops are allowed to make exceptions to the rule. Sport events have been suspended at all. More official news here.

Halfway between Mantova and Parma is Sabbioneta pronounce Sahb-beeo-na-tah), also called "little Athens", a village entirely rebuilt as an utopian city between 1560 and 1591.

A gem in the history of urban projects: its Signore, Vespasiano Gonzaga, built here not only fortifications, gates, schools, but also a large frescoed palazzo, his own splendid residence, a church with his mausoleum and, to a project by Vincenzo Scamozzi, the remarkable Teatro Olimpico, or Olympic Theater.

  East of Milan.
Some 150 km from the city.
Take highway A1 E35 (towards Bologna) to Parma (km 120), then roads 343R to Casalmaggiore (km 20 from Parma) and 420 to Sabbioneta.

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