Borgoforte fort

Also called Forte Centrale or Forte Magnaguti, this was built in 1859, along with Forte Noyon in Motteggiana, on the right bank of the River Po, and the Rocchetta and Bocca di Ganda forts, above and below on the main bank of the River Po. They formed a double bridgehead defending the Mantua-Verona route, of great strategic importance for the Austrians. It was, however, in 1216 that the people of Mantua laid the foundations of a fort known, from 1254, as Borgoforte. The first bridge over the River Po was built in 1253.