Friday 12th June, 2026. Reggio Emilia & Gualtieri & Mantua, Italy.
After a peaceful night in Dozza we made an early start to try and beat the heat. Sorry if I seem to be harping on but when it’s plus 25°, there’s not much to do with a dog other than seek out shade, especially one who likes to hide in the van which can be 5° more than outside of it!
Anyway, today we thought we would sneak in a couple of spots starting with Reggio Emilia. This is where Princess Kate visited last month.
Its a big city and has a diverse population. We arrived while the markets were on, taking up most of the main squares and making it a very busy morning.
We then moved on to another ‘beautiful borgi (village)’ called Gualieri. Now I wouldn’t really call it a village. Everything of importance is in one main square which also is the main road through.
We managed to find a parking spot under a tree right by the square and noticed immediately a Gelateria. Yes, it was time. It was a proper one too where the ice cream is in sunken stainless steel, lidded pans. I tried yoghurt ice cream and lemon sorbet whilst Gareth had his favourite combination of vanilla and hazelnut.
We sat in the shade of one of the porticos that run around 3 sides of the square and enjoyed our treat and the substantial buildings around us.
As we were there at mid afternoon, the village seemed to be sleeping, just a few people sitting at a bar in the archway of the Watchtower.
Each archway leads to the villages streets and the buildings include a beautiful theatre, closed during our visit, a church and a palace.
Still too hot to settle in for the day, we carried on north to Mantua – or Mantova in Italian.
There’s a parking spot just outside the town and near a park and palazzo called Te.
As we arrived there was a police diversion in place so we had to find another way in. Arriving at the spot with only one other camper in, we noticed signs stating that there was to be a “demonstration” the next day so parking wasn’t permitted from 7am until 7pm. Any vehicle left would be towed away!
Bugger! A quick search found us another parkup which took us practically into the centre, on cobbles – oh no – memories of driving into the centre of Milan came to mind 
, into the main square but out again soon enough to a lovely park and parking area.
There are 3 lakes here, Lake Mezzo being the main one, so every now and again there was a little breeze. After parking the van we made a cuppa and took it into the park to sit on a bench in the shade. There’s a dog park here but Meg was not interested.
When we thought it had cooled enough, we set off into town, just around the corner. The cobbles start almost immediately, how amazing, still intact after all these years.
We walked through the main square with the Ducale Palace, pedestrianised which was great. There were bars and restaurants here but we continued through an archway further into the old town.
Mantova is a pretty place. Some buildings have been left with flaky plaster while others are painted in various terracotta shades which just added to its charm really. You have to watch where you are walking as the cobbles could be bad news for your ankles 
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One thing I will say is that the buildings and entrances are huge! See if you can spot Gareth and Meg in front of a couple of them.
We stopped for dinner in a square and sad to say, it was rather mediocre. Mushroom pasta for Gareth and an egg and burrata salad for me.
I don’t think it helped that there were quite a few flies around annoying all 3 of us plus we came away with a selection of mozzie bites 
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At least the evening was a tad cooler parked near the lakes.
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