Castello di San Giorgio is part of the Ducal palace of Mantua . It is a moated rectangular castle , each of which 's four corners has a large tower and the moat is crossed by three drawbridges . It was built between 1395 and 1406 on the ruins of the church of Santa Maria di Capo di Bove for Francesco I Gonzaga , to designs by Bartolino da Novara . Ludovico III Gonzaga gave over his rooms in the " Corte Vecchi " to pope Pius II for the Council of Mantua in 1459 - that year , he commissioned Luca Fancelli to rebuild the castle as a palazzo rather than as a defensible castle . He also commissioned the frescoes of the castle 's Camera degli Sposi . In 1490 the castle became the site of the studiolo of Isabella d'Este , remaining there until she moved it to the " Corte Vecchi " in 1519-1522 . In 1496 the condottiero Paolo Vitelli was captured by Francesco II and imprisoned in the castle . It remained the main Gonzaga residence for around a century until Guglielmo Gonzaga moved his apartments to the rebuilt " Corte Vecchi " . In 1810 the Tyrolean fighter Andreas Hofer was imprisoned in the castle before his execution by the Kingdom of Italy . Mantua became part of the Austrian Empire in 1814 and from 1815 it was a maximum security prison for the Empire 's political opponents , such as the Belfiore martyrs from 1852 onwards . Others pro-Risorgimento figures imprisoned there included Ciro Menotti and Teresa Arrivabene . The building 's structure was damaged by the 2012 Emilia earthquake
2012 Emilia earthquake
2012 Northern Italy earthquakes
Castello di San Giorgio, Mantua