Veneto’s Walled Towns: Preservation and Heritage Development Initiatives

There are approximately one hundred walled towns in Veneto, those defensive structures dating back to the medieval and Renaissance periods. Many, more than half, have lost their towers and bastions, moats, and ramparts — notes Franco Posocco in the opening article of the February supplement of the monthly magazine “Bell’Italia” dedicated precisely to noble and proud towns — but the remaining fifty retain clear signs of their layouts and measurements, not only in their positions but also in the harmony of the buildings and the nobility of their configuration.

Walled towns of Veneto

Among these, west of the Scaliger Quadrilateral, which radiated from Verona, are prominent in the Garda area: Malcesine, Torri, Lazise, Peschiera, Valeggio, and Villafranca.

And it was precisely in Peschiera that last Saturday the Associazione Città murate del Veneto, founded in January 1997 to promote initiatives aimed at the knowledge, safeguarding, and enhancement of the walled towns and fortified centers of the region, presented its publishing project.

The meeting took place at the historic Palazzina, with attendees including, alongside Mayor Umberto Chincarini and architect Lino Vittorio Bozzetto (author of the beautiful volume on the fortified city of Peschiera), representatives from the municipal administrations of Soave, Lazise, Bardolino, Torri, Pastrengo, Rivoli, Valeggio, and Villafranca.

All gathered to emphasize the importance and interest, as well as the commitment to culture, in the cultural and historical recovery of fundamental assets — often replacing a government often absent in the care of the heritage.

For example, the Peschiera Administrator highlighted the restoration of the Cacciatori barracks carried out by the Arilicense municipality with support from the Region, while the Palazzina Grandi degli Ufficiali, owned by the State, is in a state of decline, so much so that it must be fenced off to prevent accidents and damage to people.

Returning to the editorial initiative, promoted by the Region with contributions from the Associazione Città Murate del Veneto, established on the initiative of “Italia Nostra” and affiliated with the “Walled Towns Friendship Circle,” the supplement of about seventy pages, along with a guide to the fortified centers of Veneto, also offers a fascinating journey among towers, castles, and military architectures, but also evokes the cities depicted in paintings by Bellini, Carpaccio, Mantegna, and Giorgione: the sublime art of “faking” landscapes.

The first three articles by Franco Posocco, Lino Vittorio Bozzetto, and Adriano Verdi are followed by one dedicated to the “Family Walls” of Riccardo Magrini, referencing Lazise, Soave, Villafranca, and Malcesine.

Marta Moretti focuses instead on forts, islands, and artillery platforms designed to defend a city like Venice, “without walls” (photo by Guido Baviera); Carlo Migliavacca describes churches, convents, and monasteries both inside and outside the city walls.

Melania Balmi illustrates the ring of walls encircling Cittadella, the town established by Padua in the 13th century for military purposes, and Maria Luisa Magagnoli describes the Palio and the 14th-century walls of Montagnana, considered the best preserved in Europe.

Finally, an excursus on the small great temples of good living by Marina Tagliaferri and insights into markets, festivals, local products, and Venetian wines, curated by Guido Montaldo.