Valeggio sul Mincio

A village full of history a stone’s throw away from Lake Garda

Located in the natural amphitheater of the moraine hills, for centuries Valeggio was the western gate of the Veneto Region.

Inhabited since the Bronze Age, the history of this town has been marked by bloody wars. Of the fortifications that still exist, it is worth mentioning the imposing castle overlooking the valley, the turreted walls that embrace the picturesque village of mills, the line of the Seraglio and the magnificent Visconti Bridge.

However, the history of this town is narrated through the somber Guarienti Building and the sumptuous Villa Maffei Sigurtà.

The Gardens of Sigurtà are found in the back of this villa, a beautiful botanical and landscape area considered one of the most beautiful garden parks in the world. Not far from the Visconti Bridge, an extraordinary fortified dam built in the village of Borghetto.

Here you can also visit the little Church of St. Mark the Evangelist and admire the water mills with their huge wheels that seem to caress the river.

High on the hill stands the immense, elegant and fabulous Scaliger Castle. Two legends still linger: one tells about a ghost in search of his sword and his lost honor, but another talks about the thwarted love between the nymph Silvia and Captain Malco, symbolized by a silk handkerchief and braided gold to remember the eternal passion.

The story of two unhappy lovers has inspired the women of the town that decades ago started to prepare the famous tortellini of Valeggio, pastry dough as thin as silk that is cut, tied and enriched with a delicate filling.

This tortellini is the protagonist of the Festival of the Love Knot that is celebrated on the Visconti Bridge in June. Each year approximately four thousand gourmands find themselves seated at tables to sample this specialty.

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