Valeggio sul Mincio Things to Do Tips by matcrazy1 Top 5 Page for this destination

Saint Peter's Church

Saint Peter's Church (the Chiesa di San Pietro in Cattedra) is located in the center/downtown of Valeggio sul Mincio, short walk from Cacciatore hotel.

I saw the church or better to say its upper part for the first time from the top of the castle hill when it was charmingly lighted by orange sunset light. On the last day we walked to visit famous Sigurta Gardens and on the way we saw the church again.

The Roman Catholic church belongs to diocese of Verona and is the largest and the tallest edifice in town. The second church (Roman catholic as well) is located in a hamlet of Borghetto.

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Address: Vicolo Oratorio 2; 37067 Valeggio sul Mincio (VR)

Directions: From Cacciatore hotel: go left, the church is just round the left corner on your right.

Unique front facade and history

The huge front facade of St. Peter's church looks rather simple, although it is the most decorative part of the whole edifice. Too small front steps, white large entrance with a semicircular window above, transverse pattern of bricks/stones in the lower part and vertical one in the upper part, and finally too flat roof topped with white holy cross make the whole facade a little bit strange, unique and... interesting.

HISTORY
The Saint Peter's Church was built in 1753 on the ruins of a former church from 17th century. Later on some parts of the church were renovated and received a concrete coating and/or were painted. Hmm... it wasn't good idea to add this white colour seen on my picture.

Keep in mind that Valeggio sul Mincio in 1405 - 1796 was a part of a state called Venetian Republic. Then it belonged to France (1 year only and again in 1805 - 1814 during Napoleon's wars) and most of the time to Austria (1797 - 1805 and again 1814 - 1866). In 1866 Valeggio and the whole former Venetian Republic was incorporated to newly established Kingdom of Italy.

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Address: Vicolo Oratorio 2; 37067 Valeggio sul Mincio (VR)

Directions: From Cacciatore hotel: go left, the church is just round the left corner on your right.

Own style of the parish church

Roman catholic St. Peter's parish church is built in... hmm... difficult to say, its own style, let's say mixed style. The year 1753, when the church was built indicates late Baroque or pre-early neoclassical style. Well, for sure, the church wasn't built in Baroque style at least its exterior.

ROMAN STYLE ?
The shape of the edifice with pitched but almost flat roof, building materials (stones) used, simple pattern of front facade are typical for medieval north Italian Roman style. Well, Roman style ruled in 1060 - 1250 in Italy, over 500 years before the church was built. But St. Peter's Church was put up on the ruins of a former church, thus could copy its older shape.

NEO-CLASSICAL STYLE?
The entrance, on my picture, is definetely built in neo-classical style with typical triangle tympanon above the front door. The different colour (white) and coating of the front entrance than the rest of the front facade makes me think that it was added later. Indeed, the neoclassical style ruled in 1780 - 1830 in northern Italy.

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Address: Vicolo Oratorio 2; 37067 Valeggio sul Mincio (VR)

Directions: From Cacciatore hotel: go left, the church is just round the left corner on your right.

The wall which breathes

The walls of St. Peter's church were doted with numerous holes in order to drain moisture out of the wall. Thus the wall could breathe. The holes gave shelter to pigeons as well which could nest inside and ruin the walls. That's why iron grids have been set in similar holes of the Visconti bridge in Borghetto.

I could see similar, full of holes, walls in Italy and other Mediterranean countries, both in Europe and northern Africa, but never in, say, Poland or Germany. Why? Maybe water freezing in the holes would ruin the stone walls in colder countries. Maybe northerners, due to more rains, had to pay more attention to build water resistant walls and then put drainpipes.

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Address: Vicolo Oratorio 2; 37067 Valeggio sul Mincio (VR)

Directions: From Cacciatore hotel: go left, the church is just round the left corner on your right.

Church tower

This single, square tower is added at the back, southeastern corner of the edifice of the St. Peter's church.

The tower looks too short and too thin by the bulky mass of the church. It's lower (older, I think) part is built of both bricks and stones while the upper one is made of red bricks and roofed with red tiles with something like a brick chimney on the top. Well, square shape and red tiled roof of the tower is typical for architecture of northern Italy but its assymetrical location, modest size and... chimney-like structure on the top are not.

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Address: Vicolo Oratorio 2; 37067 Valeggio sul Mincio (VR)

Directions: From Cacciatore hotel: go left, the church is just round the left corner on your right.

Why stones not bricks?

St. Peter's parish church is mostly built of stones which are put in horizontal layers: a few of smaller stones and one of larger ones above, as you can see on my picture.

Bricks, a block made of kiln-fired material, usually clay or ground shale, date back to ancient Mesopotamia around 500 BC. So, why the church wasn't built of bricks in 1753 AD? The answer is simple. Stones were local material, easy to find and less expensive than bricks. Bricks were used in richer cities (like Verona or Venice) that time.

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Address: Vicolo Oratorio 2; 37067 Valeggio sul Mincio (VR)

Directions: From Cacciatore hotel: go left, the church is just round the left corner on your right.

Back adding

This edifice, on my picture, was added to the back, in northern side of St. Peter's parish church. It was and still is a house of parish priest. It is a simple, a little bit neglected and, no doubts, very modest edifice.

Does it mean that Italian priests make the vows of charity? Or just local catholic community does not want to pay for renovation of the edifice? I don't know but, at least for historical reasons it should be renovated.

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Address: Vicolo Oratorio 2; 37067 Valeggio sul Mincio (VR)

Directions: From Cacciatore hotel: go left, the church is just round the left corner on your right.

Modest bell tower

I was surprised to see very thin and short, simply modest, bell tower growing from back, northeastern adding to St. Peter's church.

Why? Simply because bell towers of northern Italian churches are usually impressive in size even if they stand alone. Well, St. Peter's parish church of Valeggio sul Mincio looked unusual for many reasons.

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Address: Vicolo Oratorio 2; 37067 Valeggio sul Mincio (VR)

Directions: From Cacciatore hotel: go left, the church is just round the left corner on your right.

Municipio = the Town Hall

We passed by the Town Hall of Valeggio sul Mincio walking both to the castle and to Sigurta gardens. The large building is proudly called il Palazzo Municipale di Valeggio sul Mincio in Italian.

The bright, yellow and simple edifice, with almost no extra decorations, was built in typical for 19th century neoclassical style and houses the offices and the bureaus of the city administration. it's the second largest building in the town, after the huge edifice of St. Peter's church.

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Address: Piazza Carlo Alberto, 37067 Valeggio s. Mincio(VR)

Directions: On the main, triangular square of the town (Piazza Carlo Alberto), in closed to traffic area, north of the St. Peter's Church, south of the castle hill and the Sigurta Gardens.

Other Contact: info@comune.valeggiosulmincio.vr

Phone: +39 (45) 633-98-05

Sigurta Gardens - the first impressions

On sunny Sunday (8 May, 2005), the last day of the first European VT-meeting, large group of VT-ers decided to visit the most famous place in Valeggio sul Mincio - the Sigurta Gardens. Well, when we got to know that at least 3 hours are needed to see it, some of us had to say goodbuy and didn't enter the gardens.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Dissapointment?
Well, I am not a fan of gardens at all, although, surely, I like to see beautiful plants, blooming trees and flowers etc. Additionally I don't like to pay for seeing just a garden. That's why, at first, I thought that I paid too much for a ticket to see only a garden. I was mistaken, it's much more than a casual garden I saw many times around old properties of rich and famous.

A surprise!
Step by step walking around ubelievable large gardens (the largest I ever visited) I suprisingly discovered more than just casual beauty of plants, flowers and green space. I mean relaxing atmosphere, watching different visitors, discovering many small, hidden places, including some small historical markers. Add here very nice and interesting talkings with a few other VT-ers which allowed me to get to know them better. The Sigurta Gardens is first of all a place to relax.

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Address: Via Cavour,1; 37067 Valeggio sul Mincio (VR),Italy

Directions: North of the town centre (10 - 20 min. on foot). Details in my transportation tip "To Sigurta gardens"

Other Contact: Fax + 39 (45) 637-09-59

Phone: + 39 (45) 637-10-33