Itinerary 7: Montorio

A hamlet of Verona located in the north-eastern part of the municipality and about 6 km from the centre of Verona, it lies at the mouth of the Val Squaranto, where numerous villas stand, some of which are not to be missed.
From the 17th century noble or upper middle-class families built rural courts or villas, consisting of an organic ensemble of buildings suitable both for agricultural purposes and as manor residences. In the same period
Renaissance culture led to the rediscovery of man's connection with nature and the villa became a privileged symbol of this. It opens up with porticoes towards the rural environment and the garden, the main element of 'otium', refreshment, a place for conviviality among men of culture. The villa outlines the territory with its crops, garden-park and tree-lined avenues that from a distance mark its entrance, usually central, forming a true scenography. It becomes a symbol of social prestige, which is why it is often entrusted to famous architects and artists.
Your visit can begin at the Pieve di Santa Maria Assunta, near the Squarˆ pond. There is documentation of the existence of this building from 1069. From a drawing from 1561 and others from the 17th century, the church appears to be a beautiful Romanesque three-nave church with a major apse and two side apses, a rose window on the façade and two entrances.Following the terrible flooding of the progno in 1573, the presbytery was moved behind the right-hand apsidiole. In 1624 the

Moving towards Via della Segheria, you will come across Villa San Carlo.
The Villa San Carlo estate is a vast oasis of unspoilt greenery covering 70 hectares, 20 of which are planted with vines. Its beating heart is the elegant villa of 18th-century origins, which today presents itself with an eclectic neoclassical architecture built at the beginning of the 20th century.
The Villa, facing the sunset, from the top of Monte Martinelli turns its gaze towards the horizon, the curtain descending on the Moreniche hills, which at sunset offer suggestive plays of light and shade on the outlines of the city of Verona.

A stone's throw from the villa is the Fontanon, a large spring water basin south of Via Lanificio, which creates a picturesque pond. Known since the Middle Ages as Fontanon delle Sorzive, the small lake is the source and collector of most of the low springs of the Fibbio river; its basin measures about 2000 square metres and is bordered by a stone embankment.
Returning to Via Olmo and heading towards the roundabout at its end, one finds oneself in front of Villa Guerrina. Villa Mantovanelli, known as 'La Guerrina' sits hidden, like a precious possession to be discovered after a long search, behind a high wall at the beginning of the built-up area of Montorio, along the road that connects Verona to the village. From this secluded position it tells and reveals to those who care to stretch out their ears, endless lessons of architecture and art history stratified over the years.

After seeing the façade of the villa behind you, a few hundred metres up the slope to the castle is Villa Arrigossi-Dongili. The building is organised in the form of a courtyard with various buildings constructed in successive periods arranged in an 'L' shape and facing south. Interesting is the view of the Squaranto Valley that can be admired from the Art Nouveau gazebo on the corner of the large green terrace, supported on the two valley sides by a stone wall. The villa is now home to the Dongili vegetarian restaurant.
Continuing along Via Castello, a visit to the Castello Scaligero is a must. As early as 1824, the scholar Girolamo Orti-Manara hypothesised that an encampment from Roman times existed on the site where the castle now stands, but the scholar
Roman times, but the scholar Giovanni Solinas, after several inspections, hypothesised that the site may have been inhabited several centuries earlier. This hypothesis was confirmed at the end of the 20th century with the
discovery of a large Rhaetian village. The barbarian invasions of the 5th and 6th centuries swept away the Roman way and only around the 10th century did the constant raids of the Hungarians induce the inhabitants to restore the ancient fortification on the hill: thus the Castello di Montorio was born.
In the Scaligeri period it became the favourite seat of Cangrande della Scala, who restored it and strengthened its
its defences after various wars, including that of the Scaligeri with the Carraresi of Padua in 1313, had severely damaged it. Between 1860 and 1866 the castle was converted by the Austrians into a fortress and assigned, with five other buildings, to the defence of the city perimeter.ÊIn 1972, by notarial deed, the castle was sold to the Municipality of Verona.
If you also want to visit a church, head towards the hamlet of Mizzole to visit the church of San Michele, known as San Micheletto. The ancient church stands in the aera of a vineyard to the right of the road leading to the nearby village of Pigozzo. The church was built for the needs of the monastery of Santa Maria in Organo, owner of vast lands in the area, in order to have a point of reference on properties far from the seat. It was also a meeting point for local peasants who had to confirm to the abbot the 'right of the monastery' to claim a kind of rent on their property. An inscription to the right of the altar testifies that the church was consecrated in 1060 by Bishop Teutpaldo.
At the beginning of the last century, the building was stripped of its furnishings, but still retains the altar flanked by the two epigraphs. For a few years it was used as a theatre. In 1941 it was purchased by the Ambrosi family, the current owners.

At this point, taking the car back towards Verona, one cannot fail to stop at Villa la Valverde.
The Valverde is a rural court consisting of a group of buildings organised in a courtyard system and closely linked to agricultural production. The plant nucleus dates back to the early 16th century when the transfer of the interests of the great Venetian merchant families to the mainland had just begun, with the development of a new and important agricultural economy. The manor house, which constitutes the piantic core of the courtyard and is still inhabited by the owners, retains its original beauty intact with its large stone fireplaces, painted coffered ceilings and friezes from the school of J. Ligozzi.
Architectural and compositional continuity characterises all the buildings overlooking the courtyard, combining 'beauty' and 'utility'. Even the less representative buildings have very fine decorative details. This is testified by the small oratory dedicated to Saint Charles, a simple but elegant 17th-century building with a polychrome marble altar.
The entire complex, including the workers' dwellings and areas for production activities, such as the tinazzara, the historic cellar, and the chapel, were the subject of a major restoration that began in the early 1960s and continues to this day. The courtyard, once occupied by the sunny brick farmyard, is now a garden full of plants and scents.