Negrar di Valpolicella

The district of Negrar is 15 kilometres apart from Verona and it includes the community of Arbizzano, Fane, Mazzano, Montecchio, Prun, San Peretto, San Vito, Santa Maria, Torbe and other smaller villages. The territory of Negrar extends into the eastern part of the Valpolicella meeting up, in the north, the Lessini Mountains. The valley has always been an important communication route between the lower zone of Valpolicella and high West Lessinia. The presence of man since prehistoric times is testified by the "forts", fortified villages offshore dated back to the Copper Age and the Bronze Age.

In Novare, there is Villa Mosconi Bertani. It was built in the early eighteenth century by Gaetano Cristofoli, commissioned by the owner Gaetano Fattori, who gave the villa to Mosconi in 1759. The interior has a high central hall with allegorical frescoes, which comprises both floors. A large land fund cultivated with vines is attached to the villa.

A Romanesque Villa is situated on the farm Le Tre Corteselle, in the village of Villa of Negrar. In 1922 were found pieces of flooring, which made it possible to identify four ambiances, three of which are open on a porch in the north. In 1987, due to some rural work, were found remains of a mosaic flooring, date back to the III century. Some fragments are now preserved in the Civic Museums of Verona.

The garden Poiega of Villa Rizzardi was built between 1783 and 1796 on the project of the famous architect Luigi Trezza, commissioned by Count Antonio Rizzardi. The garden is structured by three parallel paths, that end in an avenue of cypresses, which intersects them and culminates in the Belvedere. In addition to the Belvedere, there are the Grove with the circular temple, the Nymphaeum, the Secret Garden, the oval Pond, the Parterre and the green Teatro. In this theater, there are shows during the summer season. Many statues of mythological subjects are the protagonists of different paths

The San Marco al Pozzo Church, initially dedicated to Santo Stefano, has been modified multiples times, between the XII and the XVIII centuy. The facade has a Romanique style and it is made of tuff and Prun's stone. Inside the Chruch we can find some frescos, dated back between XII and XV century, and two canvasses, “San Marco Evangelista” (from the early seventeenth century) and “Pietà ” (from the early eighteenth century). The Municipality, upon reservation, assures the public opening.

In the Prun village, we can find open quarries or dug with tunnels, with culverts and caves. The production was abandoned around the 1950, and they are today a very suggestive place. The oldest known use of this stone, called “Prun Stone” or “Stone of Lessinia”, dates back to the Iron Age and is related to the construction of fenced castles, firmly fenced huts, built on the back of the Lessini Mountains.

Bordering the district of Negrar, in the district of Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo, there is the famous Veja bridge, the most imposing and majestic geological monument of the entire Lessinia. It is a huge natural arch, formed through the development of an original karst cave called "covolo." According to the most reliable hypotheses, the bridge was the entrance of a cave, over which flowed a stream, forming a waterfall. Very slowly, the water would have penetrated the cave, excavating the inside and leaving only the great stone arch made ofred ammonite. The structural failure dates back to about 100,000 years ago. At each side of the bridge there are two caves inhabited in prehistoric times. The finds inside, dating from the Paleolithic, are now preserved in the Paleontology and Prehistoric Museum of Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo. This location is strictly connected with the italian culture: according to tradition, this place has inspired Dante Alighieri for his eighth circle of Hell, known as Malebolge (Canto XVIII). The bridge was also represented by Andrea Mantegna, the famous painter, in the frescoes of the Bridal Chamber in Palazzo Ducale in Mantua. The are, on pubblic soil, is accessible through some traced paths and it should be visit only with sun light, because there is no illumination at night.