Nature among the villas

The name Negrar seems to derive from the late Latin Nigrariu meaning "place with black earth". Human presence in the area goes back to prehistoric times: flint artefacts found here date back to the early Paleolithic, and the remains of Bronze and Iron Age fortified villages (castellieri) can be found on many hilltops.

In Roman times the territory belonged to the Pagus Arusnatium, while the discovery of inscriptions dedicated to Jupiter and a villa confirm that there were settlements here also in the Imperial period.

The whole valley is dotted with ancient dove towers (colombare), either isolated or integrated amongst the buildings of court and villa complexes. The municipality includes the neighbourhoods of Arbizzano, Santa Maria, San Vito, San Peretto, Montecchio, Fane, Mazzano, Prun and Torbe.

Did you know?

Negrar is the birthplace of writer Emilio Salgari, football player Damiano Tommasi, golfer Matteo Manassero and Giuseppe Zamboni, inventor of the dry pile. 

This route, about 25 km long, can be done by car or by bike (for experts) ans starts in the neighbourhood of Arbizzano, where you will find Villa Mosconi Bertani in the picturesque Novare valley with its many streams and sun-kissed slopes. The majestic villa of the mid 18th century was built by Gaetano Adriano Cristofoli, commissioned by the owner Giacomo Fattori who later sold it to the Mosconi family, in 1769. The building, privately owned and not always open to the public, consists of a main body with two lower projecting wings linked by railings with obelisks and vases. Inside, a large central hall, three stories high, is decoreted with allegorical frescoes. Part of the estate surrounding the villa consists of vineyards through which a wonderful path will take you past the Valpolicella grapes, on foot or by bike.

Back in the car, turn right at the roundaboat of Santa Maria and take the road to Negrar. Installed on the second roundabout you can see a monument of contemporary art "La Meridiana", work of Giuseppe Ferlenga, that tells the exact the solar time, the true noon in Negrar, the summer and winter solstices, the equinoxes and the wind direction.

In the centre of the town you can park and have a look at the pieve, the church dedicated to St. Martin, first mentioned in 1067 but totally rebuilt in 1809. The Romanesque bell tower was built in tuff and red limestone. On the southern side of the bell tower an iscription dating to 1166 is preserved, concerning a series of usufruct contracts between the parish church of Negrar and the citizen of Verona Ribaldino. The inscriprion consists of 64 lines in capital letters.

Return to your car and take the main road northwards. Not far from the town is Villa Rizzardi in Pojega, which has a scenic garden you can visit in the summer. The garden was laid between 1783 and 1796 according to a prject by the famous architect Luigi Trezza (1752-1823), commissioned by Count Antonio Rizzardi. Trezza conceived a synthesis between an Italian and a romantic garden with "green" architectural compositors, such as the grove with the Circular Temple, the Nymphaeum, the Secret Garden, the Oval Lake, the Parterre and the Green Theatre. A sublime Belvedere completes the scene. A copius series of mythological statues decorates the garden, livening the pathways witha rich and complex iconography.

Once on the main road again, continue towards Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo with a short detour to the neighbourhood "Villa", so called because in 1887, during farm works the remains of a floor mosaic of a 3rd century AD Roman villa were found (now preserved at the archaeological museum of the Roman theatre of Verona). The villa belonged to the urban-rural typology. In 1922 other fragments of the flooring were discovered, thus enabling four rooms to be identified, adjacent to the room brought to light in 1887: three of them open onto a porch facing northwards. However, nothing has been left in situ. 

A few kilometers before reaching Sant'Anna, take a look at Forte Tesoro, on the left. The Italian fort controlled the area of the nearby Valpantena, which explains the slits facing southeast. It has three floors and was surrounded by a moat for protection. An embankment covered the roof. 

Further on, just as you enter the territory of Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo, beneath the neighbourhoods of Crestena and Giare, is the famous Ponte di Veja (Veja Bridge), the most impressive and majestic geological monument in the entire Lessinia. It is a huge natural arch, with a span of about 50m, formed thanks the evolution of an original karst cave. Over millions of years water penetrating from the outside eroded the underground layers of limestone rock, eventually causing the roof to collapse, leaving only the entrance lintel standing. At the bases of the bridge's pillars are two caves frequented in prehistoric and Roman times. Some of the finds dating to the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic are on show in the Prehistory Museum of Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo. Some other caves are filled with yellow-brownish ochre (a natural pigment) quarried since ancient and used until the 1950s.

Tradition has it that Dante Alighieri was inspired by the landscape here and based his description of the eighth circle of Hell, the Malebolge (Canto XVIII), on the conformation of the bridge. Furthermore, Andrea Mantegna, the famous painter, depicted the bridge in the frescoes of the Bridal Chamber in Palazzo Ducale, Mantua. You can explore the whole area, part of the Regional Park of the Lessini Mountains, following the many footpaths, taking into account that after dusk there is no artificial lighting. 

After this breathtaking wonder you must turn back downhill this time taking the road that passes through Prun and by the awesome quarries of Pietra di Prun or Pietra della Lessinia, the local limestone, which has always been the main building material in Lessinia, not only beacuse it's easy to extract but also for its versatility: roofs, walls, sinks, enclosures, courtyards, pavements are a clear testimony.

The more recent quarries are open air, but up to the Second World War the mining areas were underground and galleries were supported by pillars of rock.

Underground mining was abandoned in the 1950s and today the old quarries, similar to primitive rock architectures, are places of great visual and emotional impact.