The name joins castrum to a Goffredo nobody has ever identified, from the Germanic Gottfried, «at peace with God». As Castellum Vifredi the village appears in a document of 8 July 1107; it reached literature far later, with Matteo Bandello, a guest of the local court, who wrote of arriving «at the castle that bears Gioffredo's name».
From 1511 it was the capital of a small Gonzaga state that also held Castiglione and Solferino: in Palazzo Gonzaga-Acerbi the marquis Aloisio kept a lavish court, and Charles V, a guest, was handed the keys of the fortress. It ended badly. In 1592 marquis Alfonso fell to his nephew Rodolfo's hired killers, and Rodolfo seized the stronghold and ruled by terror until the townspeople conspired and killed him on his way to Mass in Sant'Erasmo. The arms still carry the red castle with three towers; the name of stocking town came with the twentieth-century hosiery mills.
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📅 Every year, on 18 October
On 18 October Castel Goffredo celebrates Saint Luke, declared the town's patron in 1725; the Fiera di San Luca, established in 1457 by Alessandro Gonzaga, is still held today.
White and yellow flour, almonds, butter and sugar, broken by hand: sbrisolona is Mantova's cake, already served at the Gonzaga court.
Read more →Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Castel Goffredo, but an easy day trip away.
