Verona - Soave and the southern plains Travel Guides | Verona | Sub Regions | Verona - Soave and the southern plains

The white wine area of Soave, to the east of Verona, centres around the attractive walled town of Soave itself, complete with the obligatory Scaligeri castle, narrow winding medieval streets and wine bars. To the south of the city, beyond its sprawling industrial area, towns are liberally sprinkled across a landscape of flat crop-growing plains. The most interesting of these is Valeggio, to the west, on the river Mincio, a town which has developed for itself the reputation of a culinary centre.

Sights

Buses arrive and depart from the same bus stop opposite Porta Verona, just to the south of the centro storico.

The ancient walls of Soave are still intact, and they enclose a quiet medieval town with sloping cobbled streets, a castle and plenty of attractive wine bars, all selling an enormous selection of local white wine. Though the castle is known as the Castello Scaligeri (T 045 7680036, Tue-Sun 0900-1200, 1500-1830, E4.50) the original structure predates its 13th-century Scaligeri restoration by some three centuries. The old centre is small, with most of the attractive buildings along via Roma, which rises up the hill from Porta Verona, one of the original 14th-century gates into the walled town. The attractive piazza dell'Antenna at the top of the hill is the centre of the town, with the 14th-century Palazzo di Giustizia, now home to a classy restaurant, to the north, the 15th-century Palazzo Cavalli to the east, and the Palazzo Pullici (15th century) to the west. The castle is just to the northeast of here, past the Chiesa dei Domenicani up the cobbled via Castello. From here there are good views north over the Soave vineyards to the Lessinia hills beyond.

via delle Terme 1, Caldiero, T 045 6151288, http://www.termedigiunone.it Jun-Aug 0900-2000, May and Sep 1100-1800. E8.50, kids under 14 E4. Bus 21 or 30 goes approximately every half an hour from Verona station.

Between Soave and Verona, the hot springs at Caldiero emerge from the ground at a constant 27°C. Known as the Terme di Giunone, they have been used for centuries to provide warm water for swimming pools and two of the 15th-century pools are still open, though they have now been added to by a modern olympic pool, a kids' pool and another small pool with a waterfall. It's the two ancient pools which are the most attractive though, especially the Brentella pool, which is circular, and surrounded by worn stone steps. The waters have supposedly therapeutic qualities. On summer Fridays and Saturdays the complex becomes a disco: Village, with the pool open to 0200, house music, and even (in 2003 at least) James Brown putting in a visit (T 349 1954626, http://www.flipperhouse.it).

South of Lake Garda, on the Mincio river which flows out of it, Valeggio was, despite its Castello Scaligeri, a fairly anonymous town until its population decided to use their home-cooking skills to start up restaurants and trattorie. The town now has the reputation for being the place where you can find the best traditional cooking in the region, and is packed full of family-run restaurants. Locals will tell you that you can’t go far wrong if you come here for a meal, and they are probably right – food here is handmade using fresh ingredients by people who care and know about what they’re doing.

Borghetto, just down the road, is pretty, but also more touristy. With lots of old waterwheels from mills no longer in operation, and the waters of the Mincio around and under nearly every corner, it is very picturesque. There are more views up to the Castello, with its ancient crumbling walls, and plenty of waterside cafés and restaurants, but it is also crammed with bijou shops selling sickly sweet oil paintings, soap and essential oils.

Valeggio sul Mincio, T 045 6371033, F 045 6370959, http://www.sigurta.it Mar-Nov, Mon-Sun 0900-1900. E8, children under 14 E5.50, children under 5 free. Bicycle hire, E3 first hour, E1.50 each subsequent half hour. Golf carts E12 first hour, E6 each subsequent half hour. Mini train E2.

Twenty gardeners and an enormous quantity of water keep this park verdant and preened, though it has its wilder parts, too. The sloping lawns and trees and expansive areas of flowers extend to 50 ha of beautiful parkland, and are a great place for a picnic. Originally the Giardino Sigurtà was the garden of Villa Maffei, designed by Pellesina, a student of Palladio, in 1617, and at one time in the mid-19th century it was the headquarters of Napoleon III. It has one of Italy’s few grass tennis courts, irises, tulips and cyclamen among its 30,000 plants, a rose-bordered avenue with fantastic views of Valleggio’s Castello Scaligeri, a mini ivy-covered castle, turtles, goats, deer and goldfish . There are plenty of drink and ice-cream stands, too, and in the heat of summer, plenty of sprinklers under which hot visitors can cool off. A mini-train does a 7 km circuit around the park and you can hire bikes and golf carts. The fairly expensive entry price has the advantage of meaning it doesn’t often get too crowded.

Travel Guides | Verona | Sub Regions | Verona - Soave and the southern plains
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