Valeggio sul Mincio is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region

Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

, located about west of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

and about southwest of

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

. It is crossed by the

Mincio The Mincio (; Latin: Mincius, Ancient Greek: Minchios, ''Μίγχιος'', Lombard: Mens, Venetian: Menzo) is a river in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. The river is the main outlet of Lake Garda. It is a part of the ''Sarca-Mincio'' ...

river. The economy is mostly based on agriculture, with some craftwork and industrial production. Valeggio sul Mincio borders the following municipalities:

Castelnuovo del Garda Castelnuovo del Garda is an Italian ''comune'' (municipality), in the Province of Verona, in Veneto, on a couple of morainic hills few kilometers south-east from Lake Garda. Verona is about 20 km to the east, Venice is 140 km east and ...

, Marmirolo, Monzambano, Mozzecane,

Peschiera del Garda Peschiera del Garda (; vec, Pischera; la, Ardelica, ''Arilica'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Verona, in Veneto, Italy. When Lombardy-Venetia was under Austrian rule, Peschiera was the northwest anchor of the four fortified tow ...

, Ponti sul Mincio, Roverbella, Sommacampagna, Sona,

Villafranca di Verona Villafranca di Verona is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Verona in the Veneto, Northern Italy. History The position on the ancient via Postumia and the perpendicular intersection structure of its roads suggests that the city had Roma ...

, and

Volta Mantovana Volta Mantovana ( Upper Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about east of Milan and about northwest of Mantua. Volta Mantovana borders the following municipalities: Cav ...

History

Archaeological excavations in the Mincio valley include a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

settlement, some tombs dating to the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

and some findings associated with the

Etruscan civilization The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...

. During the work of river channelling in 1955–56 at Isolone della Prevaldesca (an area near Valeggio) a pile-dwelling settlement came to light which led to the collection of 16,000 finds; some tombs and other finds dating to the

were found in Borghetto (in 1933 a metallic urn dating to the First

was found) and some finds associated with the

(ornaments and jewellery were found in the Mincio Valley). A large Celtic necropolis, found in 1984 still partly buried under the current town, would prove the presence of that people from the 4th century BCE and the 1st century CE. In the necropolis, found in 1984, were also discovered finds and marble funeral monuments from Roman times, as well as traces of traffic connections linking the ford on the river to consular roads. The creation of the villages of Valeggio and Borghetto dates to the Lombard rule in Northern Italy because their names derive from 'flat place' and 'fortified settlement' respectively. The monastery of Santa Maria was founded here, on the banks of the Mincio, in the 12th century; later it was a priory of the Knights Templar. The large medieval fortifications which characterize Valeggio (Scaliger castle, the Visconti Bridge and the Serraglio defensive line) were built between the 13th and the 14th centuries. In 1405 Valeggio became part of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

, and subsequently lost its strategic role, becoming an agricultural center and a silkworms trading market. After the

fall of the Republic of Venice The fall of the Republic of Venice was a series of events that culminated on 12 May 1797 in the dissolution and dismemberment of the Republic of Venice at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte and Habsburg Austria. In 1796, the young general Napoleo ...

in 1797, Valeggio was included in the

Cisalpine Republic The Cisalpine Republic ( it, Repubblica Cisalpina) was a sister republic of France in Northern Italy that existed from 1797 to 1799, with a second version until 1802. Creation After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte organiz ...

. Later it was part of the Italian Republic (1802-1805) and then of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...

. With Napoleon’s fall, the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

established the entrance of Valeggio in the

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ( la, links=no, Regnum Langobardiae et Venetiae), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" ( it, links=no, Regno Lombardo-Veneto, german: links=no, Königreich Lombardo-Venetien), was a constituent land ...

, an

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

dependence. During the Italian Unification (the 'Risorgimento'), the town was a protagonist of the battles of the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

, Second and

Third Italian War of Independence The Third Italian War of Independence ( it, Terza Guerra d'Indipendenza Italiana) was a war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire fought between June and August 1866. The conflict paralleled the Austro-Prussian War and resulted in ...

, which led to the creation of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the Monte Borghetto was bombarded (4 December 1944, the true aim was the Visconti Bridge); on 14 February 1944, an American aircraft

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

fell during a dogfight in the locality of Vanoni-Remelli, causing the death of both a civilian - who was working in the fields near a water canal - and pilot Harold Arthur Bond Jr.

Main sights

* Borghetto, a ''frazione'' with the ''Ponte Visconteo'' (" Visconti Bridge"), a fortified dam built in 1393 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. The bridge is 650 m long and 25 m wide. It was connected to the nearby Scaliger Castle by two tall merloned walls, and integrated in the fortified complex known as ''Serraglio'' which extended for c. 16 km in the Veronese plain up to Nogarole Rocca. *Villa Maffei Sigurtà, built in 1690. *

Tortellini ''Tortellini'' are pasta originally from the Italian region of Emilia (in particular Bologna and Modena). Traditionally they are stuffed with a mix of meat (pork loin, raw prosciutto, mortadella), Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, egg and nutmeg and se ...

were created in Valeggio sul Mincio. *San Pietro In Cattedra: neoclassical church.

Gallery

Borghetto sul Mincio banner River through town with weir

File:Valeggiosulmincio001.JPG, ''Scaliger Castle'' File:borghetto sul mincio verona il ponte visconteo.jpg, ''Ponte Visconteo'' (" Visconti Bridge") 2008.04.27 Borghetto Brücke.jpg, ''Ponte Visconteo'' (" Visconti Bridge") Borghetto001.JPG, ''Ponte Visconteo'' (" Visconti Bridge") 2009.05.03 Visconti-Brücke.jpg, ''Ponte Visconteo'' (" Visconti Bridge") File:Borghetto sul mincio verona chiesa di san marco evangelista.jpg, Borghetto File:Borghetto sul mincio verona i mulini.jpg, Borghetto 2009.05.03 Borghetto, Häuser mit darunterführenden Mühlgängen (Zufluß).jpg, Borghetto 2009.05.03 Borghetto, Häuser mit darunterführenden Mühlgängen (Abfluss).jpg, Borghetto Borghetto003.JPG, Borghetto Sigurta250807051.JPG, Parco Giardino Sigurtà Sigurta250807052.JPG, Parco Giardino Sigurtà Sigurta250807053.JPG, Parco Giardino Sigurtà

Twin towns

Ichenhausen Ichenhausen is a town in the district of Günzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Günz, 9 km south of Günzburg. History Early history The Lords of Roth had been feudal lord of the village since the early 14th centur ...

, Germany * St. Johann in Tirol, Austria

References

External links

Official website

Cities and towns in Veneto Bridges in Italy Castles in Italy {{Veneto-geo-stub