Mantua

Mantua, the strongest fortress in Italy, in SE. Lombardy, on two islands in the river Mincio, 83 m. E. of Milan, is a somewhat gloomy and unhealthy town, with many heavy mediæval buildings; there are saltpetre refineries, weaving and tanning industries. Virgil was born here in 70 B.C. The town was Austrian in the 18th century, but ceded to Italy 1866.

Population (circa 1900) given as 28,000.

Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)