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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox Italian comune
|name=Goito
|official_name=Comune di Goito
|native_name=
|image_skyline=Stanislao Grimaldi Dal Poggetto - primo combattimento di Goito -litografia -ca.1860.JPG
|imagesize=
|image_alt=Drawing of a battle
|image_caption=Fight between Austrians and Piedmontese over the Mincio bridge in Goito on 8 April 1848.
In the time Of Virgil, Goito was called Andes. 
|image_shield=Goito-Stemma.svg
|shield_alt=The Goito coat of arms
|shield_size=px
|image_map=
|map_alt=Map of Itality, with Goito in the north
|map_caption=
|pushpin_label_position=
|pushpin_map_alt=
|coordinates={{coord|45|15|N|10|40|E|display=inline}}
|coordinates_footnotes=
|region=[[Lombardy]]
|province=[[province of Mantua|Mantua]] (MN)
|frazioni=Cerlongo, Solarolo, Marsiletti, Torre, Sacca, Calliero, Vasto, Massimbona, Belvedere, Ca'Vecchia Gobbi, Maglia, Sagrada 1, Borgo Diciotto, Ca' Vagliani, Cascina Palazzetto, Catapane, Aquilone, Terra Nera, Isola, Tezze Vasto, Ronziolo, Barattere, Villabona, Baronina, Loghino, Corte Bellacqua di Sotto, Corte Grandi, Corte Quaresima Vecchia, Sagrada II, Valle Buratto, Cascina Bondi, Corte Bellacqua di Sopra, San Lorenzo, Corte Merlesco, Corte Resenasco<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.comuniecitta.it/frazioni-del-comune-di-goito-20026 | title=Frazioni e località Goito &#124; Comuni e Città }}</ref>
|mayor_party=
|mayor= Pietro Chiaventi 
|area_total_km2=79.22
|population_footnotes=
|population_total=10289
|population_as_of=31 August 2017<ref>Data from [[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|Istat]]</ref>
|pop_density_footnotes=
|population_demonym=Goitesi
|elevation_footnotes=
|elevation_m=33
|twin1=
|twin1_country=
|saint=St. Peter and Paul
|day=June 29
|postal_code=46044
|area_code=0376
|website={{official website|http://www.comune.goito.mn.it}}
|footnotes=
}}
'''Goito''' ([[Emilian dialects#Dialects|Upper Mantovano]]: {{lang|egl|Gùit}}) is a ''[[comune]]'' with a population of 10,005 in the [[Province of Mantua]] in [[Lombardy]]. Goito is {{convert|20|km|mi}} north of [[Mantua]] on the road leading to [[Brescia]] and [[Lake Garda]], and straddles the old east–west [[Via Postumia]] between [[Cremona]] and [[Verona]]. The town is on the right bank of the [[Mincio River]] at a key crossing.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Goito|volume=12|page=191}}</ref> The birthplace of [[Sordello]], Goito is part of the historic region known as Alto Mantovano ([[Upper Mantua]]) and was the site of a notable fortress.

==Etymology==
''Goito'' generally indicates an area of [[Ostrogoths|Gothic]] settlement, and is a common [[Toponymy|toponym]] in Italy; a similar example is ''[[Godega di Sant'Urbano|godega]]''. In 1902, Italian legal scholar Nino Tamassia published a document from 1045 which was brought to his attention by scholar F. C. Carreri and indicated that at least some of Goito's inhabitants said that they still lived "according to Gothic law" (''"qui professimus legem vivere Gothorum"'').<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6pBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA427|title=Archivio giuridico Filippo Serafini|date=1902|publisher=Direzione dell'archivio giuridico|language=it}}</ref> Local histories by Federico Amedei, Livio Calafassi and Giovanni Tassoni have agreed on the toponym's Gothic origin. Historian Pietro Pelati, however, said that the name drives from ''guttus'' (a Latin term for a water [[vase]], often indicating a settlement by a river).<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.sordello.it/territorio/itinerari-goitesi/ | title=Itinerari Goitesi }}</ref>

==History==
=== Antiquity ===
In pre-Roman antiquity, present-day Goito stood at a crossing of the river Mincio halfway between the Celtic [[Cenomani (Cisalpine Gaul)|Cenomani]] towns of [[Brescia]] and [[Verona]] and the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] and [[Boii]] settlement of [[Mantua]]. The Cenomani tribe soon became [[Roman Republic|Roman]] [[socii|clients]], but goodwill between them and the expanding Roman Republic did not last. Eventually, allied with the [[Insubres]] and Boii, they participated in a series of revolts between 200 and 197 BCE orchestrated and aided by a Carthaginian general named Hamilcar; modern historians, however, call Hamilcar's role "minimal".<ref>Harris, W.V. "Roman expansion in the West" in ''The Cambridge Ancient History Vol. VIII'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed. 1989, 111-112</ref> The Cenomani and Insubres were defeated at an unspecified crossing of the Mincio in 197 BCE by the Roman consul [[Gaius Cornelius Cethegus (consul)|Gaius Cornelius Cethegus]]; during the battle, the Cenomani may have betrayed the Insubres. Roman rule of the upper Mantua began.<ref>Livy, History of Rome, Book 32 Chapter 30 Line 11 accessed online at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Liv.+32+30&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0159</ref>

Goito may have been founded as a Roman way station in the early second century BCE when the Romans built the [[Via Postumia]], a major road connecting their colonies at [[Genoa]], [[Piacenza]] and [[Cremona]] in [[Aemilia et Liguria]] to the newly conquered territories in the eastern [[Po Valley]]. The middle section of the Postumia began in Cremona and ran eastwards to [[Calvatone|Bedriacum]] (the main crossing of the river [[Oglio]]), crossing the Mincio at Goito (other nearby crossings were at Valeggio and Mantua) before continuing east to the former Cenomani town of [[Verona]] and the capital of the new Roman province of [[Venetia et Histria|Venetia]] at [[Aquileia|Aquileja]].

Portions of the Via Postumia have always been visible in Goito: on the right bank of the Mincio at Corte Merlesca and Torre di Goito, and on the left bank at Massimbona. These sections of the road are locally known as ''la Levada'' ("the raised road").<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.parcodelmincio.it/pun_dettaglio.php?id_pun=1534 | title=La Via Postumia &#124; Parco del Mincio }}</ref> Further evidence of Roman-era settlement in the area is Roman remains found in the late 19th century at Castelvetere{{snd}}or Castelvetro{{snd}}indicating a settlement (now at the Museo Civico at Mantua) and 21 Roman burials excavated in 1939 about {{convert|1.5|km}} south-east of the town. A number of brooches (''[[Fibula (brooch)|fibulae]]''), a carved [[Cameo (carving)|cameo]] jewel, pendants, and portions of a glass-bead necklace were found in the tombs.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.parcodelmincio.it/pun_dettaglio.php?id_pun=1535 | title=Necropoli romana della Via Postumia &#124; Parco del Mincio }}</ref> No Roman-era bridge has been found on the Mincio, so the river was probably crossed by ferry or at a [[Ford (crossing)|ford]]. Local historians have taken the toponym ''Corte Guá'' (farmstead at the ford) to indicate an old ford on the Mincio.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.comune.goito.mn.it/it-it/vivere-il-comune/storia | title=Storia - Città di Goito }}</ref>

=== Early Middle Ages ===
After the fall of Rome, Goito became a significant [[Barbarian kingdoms|barbarian]] settlement. Excavations in 1968 and from 1990 to 1993 unearthed two [[late antiquity]] and [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] burial grounds on the road between Goito and [[Castellucchio]], at Sacca di Goito, with at least 240 burials. Two small cross pendants, a number of short swords and daggers, pendants and other objects were retrieved. Some of the graves probably belonged to [[Ostrogoths]] (''fibulae'' and mirrors are attributed to the [[Chernyakhov culture]]), but most of the burials were [[Lombards]].<ref>De Marchi, M. & Miazzo, P. La necropoli longobarda a Sacca di Goito: i primi materiali restaurati : catalogo della mostra, Goito: Comune di Goito, 1994</ref><ref>Sannazzaro, M."Goti a Goito? Considerazioni su reperti riconducibili alla cultura Černjachov/Sîntana de Mureș della necropoli di Sacca di Goito" in ''Archeologia e Storia Delle Migrazioni: Europa, Italia e Mediterranea tra tarda antichitá e alto medioevo''  accessible online at http://www.rmoa.unina.it/3135/1/sannazaro2011.pdf</ref>

=== High Middle Ages ===
Documents from 11th-century Goito indicate that its population lived according to [[Roman law|Latin]], [[Edictum Rothari|Lombard]] and Gothic law.<ref>Tamassia, N. op.cit.</ref> Carreri said that the first mention of the town was a small donation in 1031 by a priest of "Latin law" named Martin, son of Leo, to the monastery of Saint Genesius in [[Brescello]]. Two similar donations were made to the Church of Saint Mary (a [[Dependency (religion)|dependency]] of the monastery) by Manfred "of Alemannian law" in 1042 and 1044. [[Matilda of Tuscany]], [[count]]ess of Mantua, donated four farmsteads in nearby [[Rodigo|Rivalta sul Mincio]] and four in Goito to the monastery in 1099.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aCxgmgo7skMC&q=goito&pg=PA170 |title=Atti e memorie della R. Accademia Virgiliana di Mantova |date=1899 |publisher=Tip. B. Balbiani |language=it}}</ref>

Eighteenth-century historian [[Ippolito Donesmondi]] published a document that the rights to a chapel in the Goito castle were donated in 1123 by the bishop of Mantua to the abbey of [[Polirone Abbey|San Benedetto Polirone]] (a wealthy monastery patronized by Matilda of Tuscany), indicating that Goito was already fortified.<ref>Bertolotti, E. ''I comuni e le parrochie della Provincia Mantovana'' Mantova: Arnaldo Forni, 1893, p. 81.</ref> Goito's connections to Matilda have led local historians (including Carreri) to theorize that the 1080 [[battle of Volta Mantovana (1080)|battle of Volta Mantovana]] between imperial and papal forces actually took place in Goito rather than nearby [[Volta Mantovana|Volta]], but their interpretation would rest on a different understanding of the text of [[Bernold of Constance]]'s ''Chronicon'' (substituting ''"apud Guithum"'' for the accepted ''"apud Voltam"'').

The castle of Goito became more significant. [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] received a delegation from Mantua at Goito in 1237, and pardoned the Mantuans for their insubordination against the Holy Roman Empire. In 1250, the castle was chosen for an [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] by [[Conrad IV of Germany]].

According to his near-contemporary anonymous Occitan biographer, the troubadour [[Sordello]] was born into a knightly family in Goito during the late 12th century.<ref>See Grimaldi, M. "Sordello da Goito" in Dizionario Biografico deli Italiani, Vol. 93 (2018)</ref> Early modern Mantuan historians such as [[Bartolomeo Platina|Bartolomeo Sacchi "il Platina"]] and [[Scipione Agnelli|Scipione Agnelli Maffei]] said that he was from the Mantuan line of the [[Visconti of Milan|Visconti]] family (a claim not accepted by modern historians), and literary historian [[Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni]] said that Sordello, after his exile in Provence, returned and acquired the title "de Goito" when he become lord of Goito.<ref>Crescimbeni, G.M. ''De commentari interno all'istorija della volgar poesia''Venezia: Giovanni Basegio, 1730, 2-3.</ref> This claim is unsubstantiated, and not accepted by modern historians; the elderly Sordello returned to Italy as a member of Charles of Anjou's entourage in 1265. He was imprisoned at [[Novara]] for unknown reasons the following year, and received the lordship of lands and castles in [[Abruzzo]] in 1269.<ref>Grimaldi, M. ''op.cit.''</ref>

According to historians, the [[Bonacolsi]] family (''de facto'' rulers of Mantua) purchased a house to collect tolls at the bridge in Goito during the late 13th century.<ref>"Bonacolsi" in Rivista del Collegio Araldico, Vol. 17 (1916), 86</ref> The Bonacolsis' enemy and the new ruler of Mantua, [[Gianfrancesco I Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua|Gian Francesco Gonzaga]], granted Goito a tax exemption in 1318. [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV of Bohemia]] donated the town to the house of Gonzaga and the Marquisate of Mantua in 1353; this confirmed Goito's status as a fortress for the Gonzagas, a significant [[signoria]] in the late medieval [[Po Valley]].<ref>Bertolotti, E.''op.cit.''</ref>

=== The Renaissance ===
During the 15th century, Goito was involved in the wars opposing the [[Visconti of Milan|Visconti]] of Milan to the rising [[House of Gonzaga|Gonzaga]] of Mantua and the [[Republic of Venice]]. In 1453, [[Carlo Gonzaga of Milan|Carlo Gonzaga]] (a claimant to the Gonzaga estates in Mantua) attempted to take control of the area with Venetian support; Gonzaga's troops were defeated at the farmstead of Villabona (a ''frazione'' of Goito) on 14 June by the forces of marquis of Mantova [[Ludovico III Gonzaga]].<ref>Volta, L.C. Compendio cronologico-critico della Storia di Mantova, dalla sua fondazione sino ai nostri tempi Mantova: Francesco Agazzi, 1827, 135.</ref> Ludovico Gonzaga, pleased with the victory, built a residence in Goito (where painter [[Andrea Mantegna]] worked in 1463&ndash;64), restored the fortifications and built the Naviglio di Goito canal; he died there from plague in 1478. Goito maintained its prosperity under dukes of Mantua [[Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua|Guglielmo]] and [[Vincenzo I Gonzaga]], becoming a wealthy market town on the road between Mantua and Venetian-held [[Verona]].

=== {{anchor|The War of the Mantuan Succession}}War of the Mantuan Succession ===
On 22 November 1629, during the [[War of the Mantuan Succession]] Goito was surrendered by its Mantuan commander to [[Holy Roman Empire|imperial]] forces who were besieging Mantua.<ref>Hanlon, The Twilight of a Military Tradition: Italian Aristocrats and European Conflicts 1560-1800 Routledge: Abingdon, 2014, p. 114.</ref> Goito's capture was a key episode of the siege; its fall threatened communication and supply routes with [[Peschiera del Garda|Peschiera]] and [[Valeggio sul Mincio]], its Venetian allies in Verona. An attempt to lift the siege failed on 29 May 1630, when French and Venetian troops were defeated outside Goito at the [[Battle of Villabuona]] in the present-day ''[[frazione]]'' of Villabona. The treaty of Cherasco restored Goito and the duchy of Mantua to [[Charles I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua|Charles Gonzaga, duke of Mantua]]. The war, its ensuing plague, and the general decline in Mantua's economic and political fortunes began Goito's decline. The town was struck by an earthquake on 5 July 1693, and its castle was damaged.

=== {{anchor|The Eighteenth Century}}18th century ===
In the autumn of 1701, during the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], Goito was besieged by imperial troops; it was relieved by French troops allied with Duke of Mantua [[Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat|Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga]] the following spring, and was unsuccessfully besieged by another imperial army on 19 May 1702.<ref>Petri, E. ''Vittorio Amedeo II ed Eugenio di Savoia della guerra di successione Spagnuola'' Milano: Hoepli, 1886. Gatti, D.I. ''Il p. Vincenzo Coronelli dei Frati Minori Conventuali negli anni del Generalato 1701-1707''Roma: Universitá Gregoriana, 1976, 746.</ref> The French garrison at Goito was driven out of the town on 19 August 1706 by imperial forces commanded by the [[Frederick I of Sweden|prince of Hesse]].<ref>The History of the Reign of Queen Anne digested into Annals: Year the Fifth (1706), London: A. Roper, 1707, 248</ref> In his report of the battle, the prince wrote that Goito had "a large ditch, a thick wall, 4 bastions and a ravelin" and he besieged it with 1,800 foot soldiers and 1,000 cavalry. After an unsuccessful eight-gun bombardment, the prince gave orders to scale the walls; the commander surrendered the night before, however, and was allowed to withdraw with his 200-man garrison to [[Cremona]]. The seizure of Goito was a key event in the lead-up to the French victory in the [[Battle of Castiglione (1706)|battle of Castiglione]], where the imperial forces were defeated by a large French army which arrived too late to save Goito. Despite that defeat, imperial forces conquered Lombardy for Austria; they entered Milan on 26 September 1706, ending a century and a half of [[Habsburg Spain|Spanish rule]] in [[Lombardy]].

Duke Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga's alliance with France and betrayal of his emperor during the war was punished by an imperial edict ending his lordship of the Duchy of Mantua. He died in exile in Padua before the news reached him, and the duchy and Goito were incorporated by the [[Austrian Circle]]. Spanish Lombardy also became an Austrian domain, administered separately from the former duchy of Mantua. Austrian gains in Lombardy and Mantua were confirmed by the [[Peace of Utrecht|Treaty of Utrecht]].

During the [[War of the Polish Succession]], a Franco-Piedmontese army invaded Austrian Lombardy and entered the duchy of Mantua. Imperial troops led by [[Christian Moritz Graf Königsegg und Rothenfels|Count Königsegg]] had left a garrison of 100 men under Lieutenant Carrillo at Goito to prevent the allies from crossing the Mincio or slow their advance. Fearing that the allied army had crossed further upstream, Carillo left Goito on 16 June 1735 after destroying (partially or completely) its Mincio bridge; the town was then occupied by a 400-man force commanded by the [[Henri François, comte de Ségur|Comte de Ségur]].<ref>Gerba, R. ''Guerra per la Successione della Polonia: Campagne 1735''Roux e Viarengo: Torino 1902, 146</ref> The main Austrian army and the Piedmontese-French allies faced off from opposite sides of the Mincio and count Königsegg, fearing that his position was no longer defensible, retreated from Lombardy. After their October 1735 armistice negotiations, the French were allowed to keep a garrison in Goito and free passage to supply it; the garrison was removed when the peace was concluded.<ref>See Anonymous ''La Storia dell'Anno 1735 divisa in Quattro Libri'' Amsterdam: Franceso Pitteri, 57-58 and Rapin de Thoyras, ''Continuation of the History of England from the Revolution to the Present Time'' London: Knapton, 1756 Vol.20 295</ref>

In 1745, during the [[War of the Austrian Succession]], the Austrian administration wanted to simplify governance and finance and united the former Duchy of Mantua (including Goito) with Austrian Lombardy and the former Duchy of Milan; Goito has been a ''[[comune]]'' of Lombardy ever since. Taxes to fund the war being fought across Germany and in western Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria were raised, and soldiers from the Mantuan countryside were recruited to fight in Austrian regiments.<ref>Lodi, G. Mantova e le guerre memorabilia della Valle del Po: consideration storiche e militari, Bologna: Zanichelli, 1878.</ref> Historian Corrado Vivanti wrote that peasants and townsmen in declining Goito benefited little after the wars from the judicial, administrative and revenue reforms associated with [[Maria Theresa|Maria Theresa of Austria]] and [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II of Austria]]'s [[enlightened absolutism]] and the [[Age of Enlightenment|reformism]] of Lombard intellectuals (which consolidated large-scale landholding), and the region experienced agrarian disturbances in 1761.<ref>Vivanti, C. ''Le Campagne del Mantovano nell'etá delle Riforme'' Milano: Feltrinelli, 1959.</ref>

=== Napoleonic Wars ===
In 1796, during operations leading to the [[Battle of Borghetto]], Goito was taken by French revolutionary troops and incorporated into the [[Cisalpine Republic]]; it was recaptured by [[Sebastian Prodanovich]], an Austrian colonel of Serbian descent, on 11 April 1799.<ref>Acerbi, E. ''The 1799 Campaign in Italy - Vol. 2 General Suvorov's arrival in Italy April 14, 1799'', Luca Cristini Editore: Bergamo, 2019, p. 6. {{ISBN|8893274531}}</ref>{{vn|date=May 2025}} On 25–26 December 1800, French troops trying to recapture the town in connection with the [[Battle of Pozzolo]] clashed again with the Austrians at the Goito bridge. In the initial engagements by the French right flank, General [[Pierre Dupont de l'Étang|Dupont]] and the Division Watrin defeated an 8,000-man Austrian force led by [[Konstantin Ghilian Karl d'Aspré|General D'Aspré]] and seized the town and bridge.<ref>Dumas, ''Precis des evenements militaires ou essai historique sur les campagnes des 1799 á 1814'' Paris: Trettel & Wurtz, 1817, p. 251.</ref> The battle involving the French right flank then shifted to nearby [[Monzambano]]. After French victories in the [[Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars|Italian Campaign]], Goito and Lombardy became part of the Napoleonic [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Kingdom of Italy]]. On 8 February 1814, during the [[War of the Sixth Coalition]], 34,000 French and Italian troops led by [[Eugène de Beauharnais]] and a similar number of Austrians under Field Marshal [[Heinrich von Bellegarde]] battled for control of Goito, its bridge, and the surrounding area in the [[Battle of the Mincio River (1814)|Battle of the Mincio River]].

=== {{anchor|Risorgimento 1815-1861}}Unification of Italy (1815–1861) ===
After the [[Napoleonic Wars]], Goito and the Mantuan territories were returned to the Austrian crown and incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia]]. The [[Piedmont]]ese army won the [[Battle of Goito Bridge]], the opening engagement of the [[First Italian War of Independence]], on 8 April 1848 in the first military engagement of the [[Bersaglieri]] light infantry. In a brief battle, the new light-infantry unit commanded by [[Alessandro Ferrero La Marmora|Alessandro La Marmora]] captured the bridge and forced the small detachment of Austrian defenders to withdraw to the Austrian ''[[Quadrilatero]]'' fortress. After [[Joseph Radetzky von Radetz|Radetzsky]]'s counter-offensive in May and the defeat of Tuscan and Neapolitan volunteers at the [[First Italian War of Independence#Battle of Curtatone and Montanara (29 May 1848)|Battle of Curtatone and Montanara]], the Austrian and Piedmontese armies clashed again on 30 May 1848 in the [[Battle of Goito]]; Radetzky was defeated, and the Piedmontese army resumed its offensive.

With the final defeat of the Piedmontese army at [[Battle of Custoza (1848)|Custoza]] and the end of the war, Goito returned to Austrian rule. As part of the nationalist ''[[Unification of Italy|Risorgimento]]'' movement, Goito residents continued to conspire against Austrian rule (risking arrest and execution). The most notable case in the [[province of Mantua]] was the January 1852 arrest and execution of an underground nationalist circle founded by the priest [[Enrico Tazzoli (priest)|Enrico Tazzoli]], who had attended the Goito grammar school. Tazzoli and his followers, who became known as the [[Belfiore martyrs]], were integral to the development of [[Italian nationalism]]. Don Giuseppe Ottonelli, a Goito native and the pastor of San Silvestro church, was also tried and sentenced to death. He escaped execution; his sentence was commuted by Radetzky, and he was later pardoned.<ref>Tivaroni, C. ''Storia Critica del Risorgimento Italiano''Torino: Roux Frassati: 1895, Vol. 7, Parte 1, p. 51.</ref>

=== {{anchor|Goito as the border crossing between Italy and Austria 1861-1866}}Italy-Austria border crossing (1861–1866) ===
Goito became part of the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]] in 1859 (which became known as the [[Kingdom of Italy]] in 1861) after the [[Second Italian War of Independence]], and was annexed by the new province of Brescia. Three-fifths of the former province of Mantua (including [[Mantua]]) remained in Austrian territory. As a result of the partition of the former province between Italy and Austria, Goito was briefly an international border crossing between the kingdom of Italy on one side of the Mincio and [[Austria-Hungary]] on the other. Because the [[Treaty of Zürich]] stipulated that the Mincio was the border between Italian Lombardy and Austrian Mantua, the town was divided; one-third of its residents (1,050) now lived in Austria, and two-thirds lived in the main Italian town. Crossing the border for everyday business was complicated, although the Goitesi were exempt from passport requirements; according to Italian police reports, a local schoolteacher tried to elude border patrols for nightly meetings with an Austrian police inspector in Austrian-held [[Villa Giraffa, Goito|Villa Giraffa]]. Austrian authorities, convinced that Goito priest Don Giuseppe Rondelli and Pietro Fortuna (a political refugee from Austrian-held Venetia) incited Italian nationalism, tried to prevent left-bank residents from crossing the river to listen to nationalist sermons at mass.<ref>Lucca, E. "Aspetti della Vita Sociale e Spirito Pubblico new Territory Austria della Provincia" in Camerlenghi, E. Malavasi, M.A. & Mazzola, I. ''Il Mantovano Diviso: La provincia new primi anni del Regno d'Italia'' Mantova: Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana 2015, p. 91.</ref> Rondelli wrote and published an 1860 book, ''Sulle sventure di Mantova, Verona, Venezia lotto il gioco dell'Austria'' (''On the Misfortunes of Mantua, Verona and Venice Under the Austrian Yoke''), saying that one-third of his flock remained "under Austrian tyranny" and complaining of the "persecution suffered at every crossing of the bridge for being of one true colour, that of a true Italian".<ref>Vignoli, M. "I patriot dell'alto Mantovano nel periodo di aggregazione alla provinca di Brescia" in Camerlenghi, E. Malavasi, M.A. & Mazzola, I. ''pp. cit.'', p. 315.</ref> The international border crossing ended with the Italian annexation of Venetia after the [[Third Italian War of Independence]].

=== {{anchor|Goito in Liberal Italy 1866-1919}}Liberal Italy (1866-1919) ===
Political and social life in Goito and Upper Mantua was influenced by the agrarian struggles which culminated in the 1883 and 1885 tenant and farm-labourer strikes known as "Le Boje". The strikes began in the Lower Mantuan municipality of [[Gonzaga, Lombardy|Gonzaga]], involved a number of adjoining villages, and are recognized as Italy's first mass labour strike.<ref>The fullest reconstruction is in Zangheri, R. ''Storia del Socialismo Italiano: volume secondo Dalla Prime Lotte in Valle Padana ai Fasci Siciliani'', Torino: Giulio Einaudi, 1997, 89-97, 104-121</ref> Labourers and tenants formed two cooperative associations to negotiate better wages from local landlords during the late 19th century: La Cooperativa in Goito in 1873, and a second in Cerlongo in 1893.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.sordello.it/associazioni/gruppi-ed-associazioni/associazione-combattenti-e-reduci/ | title=Associazione Combattenti e Reduci }}</ref>

=== {{anchor|Fascism in Goito 1919-1943}}Fascism (1919–1943) ===
Goito and Upper Mantua experienced political and social unrest during the [[Biennio Rosso]] as left-wing activists and agricultural workers tried to wrest local political power from middle-class townspeople; landlords and other influential rural people formed the [[Confederazione Nazionale Agraria]] and, on 3 May 1921, a local chapter of the new [[National Fascist Party]] (Partito Nazionale Fascista, or PNF).<ref>For the opening of a "Fascio" in Goito see Vaini, M. ''Le origini del Fascismo a Mantova (1914-1922)'' Torino: Editori Riuniti, 1961, 158-159 n.87</ref> Goito agricultural landowner Giuseppe "Pino" Moschini was the major Fascist ''[[squadrismo]]'' organizer in Goito and the surrounding area. Moschini's activism crushed peasant agitation, ending widespread rent strikes and curtailing regional left-wing political activism. Violence such as a three-day raid on [[Valeggio sul Mincio]] ensured that Moschini, the local "[[Gerarca|Ras]]", became one of the most prominent Fascist leaders in rural Mantua; between 1922 and 1927 he "single-handedly controlled economic policy and all labour movement in the entire province".<ref>Especially significant Cavazzoli, L. "Il Partito Nazionale Fascista a Mantova" in Beltri, M. ''Il Fascismo in Lombardia: politica, economia e societá'', F. Angeli, 1989, 107-163. For further details see also Franzinelli, M. ''Squadristi: Protagonisti e Tecniche della Violenza Fascista'' Mondadori: Milano, 2003</ref> Moschini also participated in Fascist expeditions against leftists in Parma, Cremona, Bolzano, Milano and Ferrara, and his description of some of the raids were collected by posthumous admirers in a 1934 book.  Mantuan PNF newspaper ''[[La Voce di Mantova]]'' described him as a "the young-faced, red-bearded leader (...) who has chosen over considerable wealth this hard life of battle, revealing uncommon organizational capacity. Rough-tempered, with the character of a former officer of the Alpini, he is invariably forgiven his tremendous ragings by his subordinates who know the extent of his goodness and are deeply attached to him".<ref>"Figure del Fascismo". ''La Voce di Mantova'', 1 December 1922.</ref>

Internal PNF struggles and rivalry with more "moderate" Fascist leaders (such as the mayor of Mantua) diminished Moschini's role. His support of [[corporatism]] and his dislike for those he considered opportunistic fascists with no true conviction led Moschini to criticize some of Italy's leading industrialists, such as Agnelli and [[Adriano Olivetti]], and he challenged Olivetti to a duel.<ref>Adler, F.H. ''Italian Industrialists from Liberalism to Fascism''Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, 385</ref> Marginalized nationally by his radicalism, Moschini was removed from the provincial PNF secretariat in a local 1927 reorganization led by [[Augusto Turati]].<ref>Bertolotti, M. "La Voce dei Ceti Medi alla corte dei Ras locali" accessed online at https://www.odg.mi.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/newtabloid-4-2014.pdf</ref> Moschini remained locally influential, founding the Mantuan legion of [[Blackshirts]] (the XXIII "Mincio" Legion) and organizing the construction of a monument to the [[Bersaglieri]] to which [[Benito Mussolini]] contributed 1,000 [[Italian lira|lire]].<ref>"Il monumento al Bersagliere a Goito" ''Corriere della Sera'' 20 August 1926, "Il monumento al Bersagliere a Goito inaugurato dal Maresciallo Cadorna" ''Corriere della Sera'' 21 September 1926</ref> He died in a 1934 car crash, and was buried in the family [[villa]] in Goito. Local authorities named the town's new kindergarten in his honor and organized the Trofeo Moschini, an annual bicycle race between Mantua and Milan.<ref>"La Morte del Console Moschini: il cordoglio del Duce" Corriere della Sera 25 August 1934 and "Posata a Goito la prima pietra dell'asilo dedicato a G. Moschini" ''Corriere della Sera'' 20 March 1935</ref>

=== {{anchor|The Second World War and the Resistance}}World War II and resistance ===
During [[World War II]], in the wake of the [[Armistice of Cassibile]], [[Operation Achse|German occupation of Northern Italy]] and creation of the fascist [[Italian Social Republic]] [[puppet state]] in nearby [[Salò]], a few residents of the provinces of Mantua and Verona joined local [[Italian resistance movement|partisan formations]] to fight the Germans; others signed up with local [[collaborationist]] units. Goito, a rural market town, was apparently significant to the Germans only as an [[entrepôt]] for trucks carrying supplies to the [[Gothic Line]]. Its skies saw some air combat, however, as Allied air forces disrupted German supply lines and truck stops between Verona and the Gothic Line and bombed industrial centres in German-occupied northern Italy.

On 2 April 1945 air combat over Goito, [[National Republican Air Force|Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana]] pilot and [[Bologna]] fascist leader [[Aristide Sarti]]'s [[Messerschmitt Bf 109]] was shot down by a [[United States Air Force|USAF]] [[Republic P-47 Thunderbolt|P-47 Thunderbolt]] from the [[346th Fighter Squadron]] piloted by Lt. Richard Sulzbach and crashed in a pond in the rural ''frazione'' of Corte Baronina. Sarti died in the crash or drowned in the pond.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1999-02-03 |title=Quel kamikaze stava coi nazisti - la Repubblica.it |url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1999/02/03/quel-kamikaze-stava-coi-nazisti.html |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=Archivio - la Repubblica.it |language=it}}</ref> The dogfight began when National Republican Air Force Bf 109s from the 2nd "Gigi Tre Osei" fighter group attacked a group of [[57th Bombardment Wing]] [[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25]]s and their P-47 escorts from the 346th and [[347th Fighter Squadron|347th]] fighter squadrons returning from a bombing run. The engagement was one of the ANR's most catastrophic air battles; with no kills, 14 of the fighter group's Bf 109s were shot down and six of its pilots were killed.<ref>Bernstein, J.''P-47 Thunderbolt Units of the Twelfth Air Force''. Oxford: Osprey (2012), p. 157.</ref>

Nine days later, USAF planes bombed Goito for over two hours and damaged a number of homes; there were no fatalities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Storia - Città di Goito |url=https://www.comune.goito.mn.it/it-it/vivere-il-comune/storia |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=www.comune.goito.mn.it}}</ref> Goito was not the objective of the raid, which targeted a large, partially-concealed German fuel depot. Seven [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|Flying Fortresses]] from the 483rd Bomber Group, escorted by 36 [[North American P-51 Mustang|Mustangs]] from the 52nd Fighter Group, first attacked the depot but did little damage; a Luftwaffe [[Arado Ar 234|Arado 234]] was damaged by the escorts, however, and crash-landed in Switzerland. The second wave of 24 [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|Liberator]]s from the 464th and 465th Bomber Groups hit portions of the fuel depot, and a third wave of 36 Liberators from the 454th, 455th and 456th Bomber Groups reportedly destroyed 12 structures at the Goito fuel depot.<ref>Mahoney, K. ''Fifteenth Air Force against the Axis: combat missions over Europe during World War 2'' Plymouth: Scarecrow Press, 2015, 385-6</ref>

The most prominent [[Italian resistance movement|resistance unit]] in the upper Mantuan countryside was the Brigata Italia, based in nearby [[Villafranca di Verona]] and responsible for operations in and around Goito. On 25 April 1945, captured resistance fighter Barbieri Gino was [[Extrajudicial killing#Law of war|executed]] by retreating German soldiers in Goito and his body left unburied on the road.<ref>Benfatti, C. La resistenza della province Mantovana 1943-1945 Mantova: Sommetti, 2005</ref> The town was liberated by the Allies the following day.

=== {{anchor|Goito in the First Republic}}First Republic (1948–1994)===
{{See also|History of the Italian Republic}}
After the war, Goito benefited from the [[Italian economic miracle]] and rising standards of living. New consumer goods, educational institutions and amenities transformed life, and a cinema opened on the Sala Verde in 1948.

The population (primarily agricultural labourers and organized in the [[National Federation of Italian Agricultural Labourers and Employees|Federbraccianti]] trade union) began supporting the [[Italian Communist Party]], transforming the town into a left-wing stronghold. The 1949 national strike of agricultural labourers was especially significant, with several farmhouses dynamited; fourteen left-wing activists, including local labour secretary Angelo Vincenzi, were arrested for criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of firearms and criminal damage. The charges against Vincenzi and six others were dropped for lack of evidence in 1952, and seven others were imprisoned.<ref>"Il processo di Mantova control gli attentatori di Goito" ''Corriere dell'Informazione'' 24 Luglio 1952</ref>

Communist trade unionist Gina Magnoni was elected mayor of Goito in the 1949 municipal elections, the first woman to win a mayoral election in Mantua province. Local Communist leader Narciso Vaccari won municipal elections in 1951 and 1956. Authorities in newly-democratic Italy were still often unsympathetic to labour unrest and political activism; on 27 July 1954, the provincial [[prefect]] suspended Vaccari for three months after he gave political speeches and encouraged farm workers to join the 15 June 1954 national farmhands' strike.<ref>"Il sindaco di Goito sospeso dalle sue funzioni" ''Corriere della Sera'' 28 Luglio 1954</ref>
Goito's team won the 1959 national championship in [[tamburello]], a racket-type sport primarily played in Lombardy and Piedmont.

The Communist Party's influence then declined. It was defeated in the 1960 local elections, when Goito elected [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy's]] Aldo Pampuri mayor. The party narrowly won municipal elections again with Sereno Guindolini on 22 November 1964. A Christian Democratic majority in the municipal council was again won in the municipal elections of 7 June 1970. Elections in 1975 and 1980 chose [[Italian Socialist Party|Partito Socialista Italiano]] candidate (and former Christian Democrat ward councillor) Rinaldo Rabbi to form coalitions: first with the Communists, and then with the Christian Democrats. Rabbi was controversial locally;<ref>{{Cite web |date=1989-09-20 |title=QUELL' EX SINDACO TRAFFICANTE DI ARMI - la Repubblica.it |url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1989/09/20/quell-ex-sindaco-trafficante-di-armi.html |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=Archivio - la Repubblica.it |language=it}}</ref> he was dropped from the Socialist Party mayoral candidacy after internal party disagreements, but remained active in local politics as an [[alderman]]. In 1985, a fragile coalition led by Christian Democrat Cesarino Marchioro governed Goito until it was dissolved in 1987. During the 28 May 1989 elections, Communist leader [[Giancarlo Pajetta]] reportedly gave one of his last political speeches.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Redazione |date=2019-03-16 |title=Chiuse a Goito le storiche sedi del Partito comunista e della Cgil |url=https://vocedimantova.it/provincia/chiuse-a-goito-le-storiche-sedi-del-partito-comunista-e-della-cgil/ |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=la Voce Di Mantova |language=it-IT}}</ref>

In the autumn of 1989, Rabbi (then an alderman) was arrested and charged with arms trafficking; he had sold submachine guns manufactured by a Goito gunsmith to criminals in the Mantova and Verona areas and possibly to the [[Mafia]]. When [[Italian Democratic Socialist Party|Democratic Socialist]] former deputy mayor and planning committee chair Arnaldo Vincenzi was sentenced to 22 months' imprisonment for extortion and abuse of public office, the national daily ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'' asked if Goito deserved "the prize for being the region's most turbulent municipality".<ref>"Operazione pulizia della Goito dei veleni" ''Corriere della Sera'', 2 November 1989</ref> Rabbi was later imprisoned in [[Brescia]]'s Canton Mombello for [[pedophilia]] before his sentence was reduced to house arrest.<ref>"Pedofilia: Rabbi agli arresti domiciliari" in ''Gazzetta di Mantova'' 15 September 2005</ref>

=== {{anchor|Goito in the Second Republic}}Second Republic (1994–present) ===
During the early 1990s, the ''[[mani pulite]]'' (clean hands) investigation ended the First Republic and many political parties. Former Communist leader Enzo Cartapati was elected mayor of Goito in 1991 for the new [[Democratic Party of the Left]], and was re-elected for the [[Democrats of the Left]] in 1994. The [[Lega Lombarda]] party attracted considerable support in Mantua province and Goito during the late 1990s, and in 1998 former Christian Democrat [[Pietro Marcazzan]] led a Lega coalition as the town's first centre-right mayor; he was reelected in 2002. Marcazzan left to pursue national-level politics in 2007, and Anita Marchetti won the mayoral election with support from Lega and [[Forza Italia]]. Marchetti made the national news when she said that admission to the municipal kindergarten would be restricted to "the children of Christian parents".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-02-24 |title=Accettiamo solo bimbi figli di cristiani a Goito è scontro sull' asilo comunale - la Repubblica.it |url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2010/02/24/accettiamo-solo-bimbi-figli-di-cristiani-goito.html |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=Archivio - la Repubblica.it |language=it}}</ref> Marcazzan returned to challenge Marchetti, and was elected to a third term in 2012. Pietro Chiaventi, son of Socialist mayor Ilario Chiaventi, was elected mayor in 2017 at the head of a non-political civic list promising to "turn a new page" in Goito.<ref>Elezioni comunali 2017, onda giovane a Goito con Chiaventi: «Adesso si volta pagina» Gazzetta di Mantova, 13/06/2017</ref>

Since the early 2000s, a number of immigrants have settled in Goito and found work in local industries; some have [[Naturalization|acquired Italian citizenship]]. On 1 January 2020, 1,249 foreigners (12.4 percent of its population) lived in the town; this does not include naturalized Italian citizens. The largest immigrant group (536 in 2020) is from the [[North India]]n state of [[Punjab, India|Punjab]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.tuttitalia.it/lombardia/56-goito/statistiche/cittadini-stranieri-2020/ | title=Cittadini Stranieri 2020 - Goito (MN) }}</ref> Most of the Indian immigrants are [[Sikhs]], are employed by the local dairy industry as businesspeople or farmhands, and worship at a [[gurdwara]] in [[Rodigo|Rivalta sul Mincio]]. In 2015, an [[amritdhari]] Sikh resident of Goito was fined for carrying a [[kirpan]]. The fine was later upheld by the [[Supreme Court of Cassation (Italy)|Corte Suprema di Cassazione]], Italy's highest appeals court.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://gazzettadimantova.gelocal.it/mantova/cronaca/2017/05/15/news/la-cassazione-i-migranti-devono-rispettare-i-nostri-valori-1.15342013 | title=La Cassazione: I migranti devono rispettare i nostri valori, resta la condanna al sikh di Goito | date=15 May 2017 }}</ref> The court's ruling, which has been interpreted as an infringement on Sikh religious liberty, was reported in international media as a ban on the kirpan.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39928912 | title=Italian court upholds ban on Sikhs carrying knives | work=BBC News | date=15 May 2017 }}</ref> Indian MP [[Gurjeet Singh Aujla]] met with Italian diplomats to discuss the affair, and was told that no general ban of kirpans is in effect.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/kirpan-ban-not-for-the-community/articleshow/58830986.cms | title='Kirpan ban not for the community' &#124; Chandigarh News - Times of India | website=[[The Times of India]] | date=25 May 2017 }}</ref>

==Notable sites==
=== {{anchor|Religious edifices}}Churches ===
* Church of Saint Peter the Apostle
* Church of Massimbona
* Church of St. Mary Virgin and Martyr at Solarolo

=== {{anchor|Military edifices}}Castles ===
* [[Castle of Goito]]
* Castle of Cerlongo

=== Civic landmarks ===
* Civic Tower
* Bridge of Goito (Ponte della Gloria)
* [[Villa Giraffa, Goito|Villa Giraffa]]
* [[Villa Moschini]]
* [[Corte Villabona]]
* Bersaglieri monument
* Municipal Theater

=={{anchor|Twin towns}}Twin town==
Goito has been [[Sister city|twinned]] with [[Baienfurt]], Germany, since 2005.

==References==
{{reflist}}

<BR>
{{Province of Mantua}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Cities and towns in Lombardy]]
[[Category:War of the Mantuan Succession]]