What to see in Villafranca di Verona, itinerary including the main attractions and monuments, including the Scaliger Castle, the Bottagisio Palace and the Risorgimento Museum.
Tourist information
Villafranca di Verona is a town in the Veneto region located on the plain between the Mincio and Adige rivers, on the road that connects Mantua to Verona.
The village was founded on March 9, 1185, when the Council of Rectors of Verona decided to populate the land that was on the border with Mantua, creating a village free from the payment of taxes, which was called Villafranca for this reason.
Its strategic position from the point of view of the defense of the territory and communications pushed the government of Verona to build a fortified structure.
Therefore Villafranca di Verona has a medieval urban structure, even though the majority of the historic buildings date back to the nineteenth century.
Its main monument is the Scaliger Castle, whose central body was closed by walls and surrounded by a wall, inside which the course of the Tione river was diverted.
What see
The castle was also part of a defensive system, called the Serraglio, formed by a fortified wall that connected the surroundings of Nogarole Rocca to Valeggio sul Mincio, of which only a few traces currently remain.
The castle was destroyed in later periods due to wars, the current fortress, of considerable architectural value, corresponds to the reconstruction that took place at the behest of the Serenissima Republic.
The city is also remembered for the armistice signed between Austria and France, known as the Peace of Villafranca, which sanctioned the conclusion of the Second War of Independence.
This treaty was stipulated in the current Bottagisio palace, between the French emperor Napoleon III and the Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Joseph.
The palace, dating back to the mid-1700s, houses the Museum of the Risorgimento and, in a room on the first floor, there is the room of the famous treatise.
