Sparafucile's inn is located on the left bank of Lago di Mezzo, one of the three lakes formed by the river Mincio which surround the city in a semicircle.

It is the setting of the entire opera and concludes our Mantuan itinerary in the footsteps of Giuseppe Verdi.

Smaller in both size and volume than Lago Superiore and Lago Inferiore (from which it is separated by the dam and Ponte San Giorgio, which already existed in 1199), Lago di Mezzo is the deepest of the three lakes.

One of its peculiarities is the presence in its waters of a rare native known as the water chestnut, because of the edible fruits that are gathered here in late autumn.

(Act 3, scene 1) Deserted right bank of the Mincio. The rest of the theatre represents the deserted part of the Mincio, which in the background flows behind a half-ruined parapet; on the other side of the river is Mantua. It is night.