Mantova

Once there lived a fortune-teller called Manto in Greece. She was the daughter of the famous fortune-teller Tiresias.
One day, unexpectedly, she was forced to leave her native city to save herself from the wrath of the Thebans. So she decided to flee to the Italian peninsula.

Manto, after a series of tribulations, reached the territory of central Italy and came to the banks of the river Tiber. There she met the god of the river who married her. From this marriage a child was born named Ocno, as beautiful as his mother, strong and generous as his father. Over the years, Ocno learned many things and as he was a good-hearted person he helped building the lakeside villages along the Tiber. But one stormy day the River God was struck by a lightning of Zeus and died. Manto and Ocno, on their own now, decided to abandon their home full of painful memories. After sailing the length and breadth of Italy's rivers and seas, they arrived at Mincio River, which flowed in the middle of green plains, expanding into three lakes in a pale blue color. When Manto saw the islands in the middle of the lakes, she decided that she wanted to live there. Ocno wanting to help his mother, he decided to build a home in one of these islands. They lived for many years on this island until Manto became old. On her deathbed she asked her son to build a city full of happy people on the islands. Ocno, in deep grief, built her a beautiful coffin filled with flowers. After some time the flowers sprang open and revealed a plant with long leaves and silvery strings, like his mother's hair. The plant was called Willow and grew prosperously on the islands and along the banks of the Mincio. Ocno, remembering his mother's recommendation, built houses and banks around the trees and bridges to unite the islands to the banks. Then he invited the pastors of the surroundings to live in the new city which he gave the name “Mantua” in honor of his mother.