Holiday apartment in Sona: morainic hills, history and trails

Holiday apartment in Sona among morainic hills and history

Sona lies among the morainic hills. Vineyards, olive groves and cherry trees shape the area and give the town a rural character. At the same time, Sona combines trails, historic buildings, art and museums into a varied destination. The “Cammina San Giorgio” project includes seven routes suitable for pedestrians and cyclists in San Giorgio in Salici.

Trails for active and varied vacation days

The “Cammina San Giorgio” routes differ in difficulty and length. They also lead along paths with steep climbs and quiet unpaved stretches that often offer panoramic views.

Churches, towers and art in Sona

The Torre Scaligera dates from the 14th century, stands on a 200-meter-high hill and is 17 meters high. It formerly served as an observation point. The bell tower of the Church of San Giorgio Martire was built in 1788 according to a design by the architect Trezza and contains a peal of thirteen bells. Its 1933 facade fresco by Orazio Celeghin depicts Saint George on horseback killing a dragon with his lance.

The “Attilio Fedrigo” Museo Paleontologico e dell’Origine del Territorio displays several hundred fossils from Italy and abroad. The exhibition provides an overview of the development of life forms from the earliest eras, including the Paleozoic era more than 500 million years ago, up to a period several thousand years ago. The Museo Storico Baita Monte Baldo is divided into sections on peasant civilization and wartime periods and includes a mushroom exhibition as well as a permanent photo exhibition.

The parish church of San Giacomo e Santa Giustina preserves paintings from the 17th to the 19th century and a movable polychrome wooden crucifix from the early 16th century. The origins of the Church of San Quirico e Giulitta date back to the 15th century; during the plague of 1630, the Dominicans used it as a hospital. The church contains a fresco of the Crucifixion attributed to the school of Liberale da Verona. The Pieve di Santa Giustina is dated to around the year 1000 and was built in Romanesque style with masonry stones made from morainic material arranged in a herringbone pattern. The parish church of San Salvatore features marble altars and late Baroque stucco work. The “Arbor Redemptionis” fresco depicts the history of salvation and covers 240 square meters.

Landscape, farmsteads and historic villas

The Tunnel dell’Amore runs between two branches of the Tione River through wooded slopes and has a pleasant microclimate. Next to the Church of San Rocco lies an erratic boulder that arrived there during the last Ice Age. La Guglia is a round tower built at the same time as Villa Trevisani Calderara and associated with a view over the surrounding area. Villa Belvedere stands on a hill with a 360-degree view stretching from Lake Garda to the Berici Hills and the Lessini Mountains.

Villa Koelliker is also known as Giarola Previtali and Villa Eire. It is located on the Sona hillside, overlooking the area toward Verona, in a large park with numerous plant species and a pond. It was built in 1892 by Giuseppe Previtali as a summer residence in Località Giarola, near an old chapel dating from 1703. Villa Trevisani Calderara was built in the 19th century in a park with centuries-old trees. Villa Consolaro Turata in the center of Sona was a Jesuit monastery until the Napoleonic suppression. The Colombaron is a 16th-century rural farmstead on the eastern slopes of Sona; its large dovecote tower gave it its name.

The Church of San Rocco stands in Località Fornelli on a meadow shaded by centuries-old trees. According to tradition, it was built in 1511 in thanksgiving for surviving the plague; when clearing the fields, the inhabitants used salvaged morainic pebbles. Next to the church stands the Bagolar, also called Pirlar. It belongs to the species Celtis australis, is described as a national botanical monument of the area, has a circumference of 2.85 meters and is 19 meters high. Ca’ Vecia is a rural farmstead in Cavecchie dating back to the 16th century and is now used as an accommodation establishment. Villa Spolverini Schizzi Fiorini Recchi preserves the only surviving brolo of the many that once existed in the municipality. In the hills of San Giorgio, rural farmsteads lie among cultivated areas; many were equipped with dovecote towers or watchtowers in addition to residential and agricultural buildings. The Colle d’Oro sul Lago farm in Palazzolo di Sona includes an olive grove, a small vineyard, a kiwi garden and a rose garden among the morainic hills.

Other destinations in the area

The area around Sona is home to the Museo Nicolis, a museum, the Parco Natura Viva, a zoo, and the Castello Scaligero, a castle. The Padri Redentoristi monastery is located nearby. Also in the area are the Associazione Amici dei Civici Musei d'Arte di Verona, a museum, as well as the natural arches Porta Palio, Arco dei Gavi and Porta Borsari.

For further orientation, consider Roveré Veronese, Cerro Veronese, Pai, Fumane, Marano Di Valpolicella, Colà, Marchesino and Stra.

For the broader travel overview: Verona.