Borghetto

...Taken from "The Most Beautiful Villages of Italy"

The history of Borghetto is that of an important crossing point and a border area disputed by opposing armies.

The ford of the river Mincio was the easiest and safest south of Lake Garda; the river was a natural boundary over the centuries between the territories of Verona and Mantua- a contended area targeted by lordships and armies, among which the Gonzaga dynasty, the Scala family, the Visconti, the Most Serene Republic of Venice, Austria, and France.

Even the Napoleonic wars had their influence on this area, as did wars during the Italian Risorgimento. Nevertheless, the green River Mincio that winds through the countryside reveals an unexpected idyllic world and encourages endless daydreams.

The landscape is still, perennial and timeless and inspires us to seek our sources and origins, like rivers in myths where water and dreams are muddled. Strolling in Borghetto in the evening to watch the sunset on the Mincio, or when the fog blurs the outlines of the houses and only the Ghibelline battlements on the hill are visible, is like sinking into an imaginary medieval world.

The small hamlet is only a handful of houses, an ancient village of water mills in complete symbiosis with its river. An idyllic river, with the three old water wheels that seem to rise up out of the water.

The Visconti bridge, an extraordinary fortified dam built in 1393 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, was called a "checkpoint of the old regime." It is 2100 feet long and 84 feet wide and was completed in 1395. It was equipped with three drawbridges, only one of which has been preserved. It is connected to the overlying medieval castle by two high battlemented walls and integrated into a fortified complex that stretched for about 10 miles.

The castle and its towers continue to dominate the valley of the Mincio from the top of the hill. The oldest part is the Tonda tower, an unusual structure dating back to the twelfth century, whereas the rest of the complex dates from the fourteenth century.

Towards the back of the village is the Church of St. Mark the Evangelist, a neoclassical reconstruction (1759) of the Romanesque church dedicated to St Mary (XI), in which there are two valuable frescoes.