| Legnago | ||
 | ||
| State | Italy | |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Veneto | |
| Territory | Venetian plain | |
| Altitude | 16 m a.s.l. | |
| Surface | 79.27 km² | |
| Inhabitants | 25.446 (year 2014) | |
| Name inhabitants | Legnaghesi | |
| Prefix tel | 39 0442 | |
| POSTAL CODE | 37045 | |
| Time zone | UTC 1 | |
| Patron | San Martino (11 November) | |
Position
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| Institutional website | ||
Legnago is a city of Veneto.
To know
It is a center of primary importance in the Verona area and the main city in the southern area of the province. It is the birthplace of Antonio Salieri, composer of sacred, lyric and classical music. It was one of the cornerstones of the Quadrilateral of Austro-Hungarian memory, which included the four strongholds of Legnago, Mantua, Verona is Peschiera del Garda.
Geographical notes
On the right bank of the Adige, it faces the village of Porto on the opposite bank, to which only a bridge connects it. It is almost in the center of a quadrilateral between the cities of Verona (42 km), Mantua (45), Rovigo (51) and Padua (68). Nearby centers of interest are Montagnana (17km), Este (33), Monselice (41), Fratta Polesine (37).
Background
The river Adige has always played, from the tenth century onwards, when it was attested in the current course, a fundamental role for the historical development of the city of Legnago and Porto, a hamlet on the left bank of the river: thanks to their defensive role, these places were already populated in ancient times.
There are many traces that testify to a very flourishing life already during the Bronze Age (13th century BC), thanks above all to the discovery in 1931 of a terramara and the countless archaeological remains dating back to Etruscan civilization still preserved today at the Fioroni Civic Museum and the Environmental and Archaeological Center. Subsequently, thanks to the Romans who settled in what the Latin historian Tacitus identified with the Allieni Forum, the surrounding countryside was made fertile and Legnago thus became a point of reference for the lower Veronese area, as it remained for centuries.
After the canal that crossed Legnago became the main course of the Adige river from the 10th century and its banks were gradually widened, during the High Middle Ages Legnago expanded its inhabited area and took on the face of a real military stronghold. Some testimonies of the ancient Porta Mantova are still visible today (Legnago was once completely fortified) near Piazza Garibaldi, Via Giacomo Matteotti and Corso della Vittoria which were brought to light following some renovation works on the square in 2004. and then subsequently covered between 2011 and 2012, as the adverse weather conditions were deteriorating them. The city was conquered first by the Lombards and later by the Franks, until around the year 1000 it became the property of the bishop of Verona who transfers it to the Municipality in exchange for Monteforte d’Alpone. Subsequently, Legnago becomes a possession of Ezzelino IV da Romano and then passes under the Scaliger domination from 1207 until 1387.
The dominations of the Visconti and the Carraresi followed one after another. Fundamental to the urban planning of Legnago was the annexation wanted by the people in 1405 to the Republic of Venice since it was the government of the Serenissima that entrusted architect Michele Sanmicheli with the arduous task of consolidating the fortifications (in particular a fortress) that were destroyed during the war of the Cambrai league, redesigning them in a star shape. The fortifications, however, were largely dismantled in 1801 at the behest of Napoleon, who then ceded Legnago with the entire territory of the suppressed Republic of Venice to the Habsburg Empire. At the time, Legnago was considered one of the most important river nodes in the Veneto due to the presence on the banks of the Adige of a port, a mobile bridge designed for the passage of boats and a long chain of mills. It was also a renowned cultural center thanks to the presence of schools, a literary academy and a theater. Upon the defeat of Napoleon, the city returned to the Austrians, as part of the Lombard-Veneto kingdom, ruled by a viceroy based in Milan and made Legnago one of the cornerstones of the Quadrilatero in 1814 together with Verona, Peschiera is Mantua.
Only with the annexation of the Veneto at the Kingdom of Italy in 1866 things seemed to change, despite the many military servitudes that still continued to exist until, at the end of the nineteenth century, to allow the town to expand outside the boundaries of the fortress, they were unfortunately demolished the walls, ramparts and gates, of which only a few remains remain today.
In 1868 and 1882 there were two ruinous floods of the Adige which destroyed a large part of the urban center. The subsequent bombings suffered during the world wars helped to steal most of the existing architectural works from the city; today to remember the grandeur of this important stronghold remains in Piazza della Libertà the Torrione which was part of the city walls built by Sanmicheli.
How to orient yourself
Legnago: full screen map.Its municipal territory includes, in addition to the city, the villages of Canove, Porto, San Pietro, San Vito, Terranegra, Torretta, Vangadizza and Vigo.
How to get
By plane
The nearest airports are:
- 1 Verona Airport (Catullus), Caselle di Sommacampagna, ☎ 39 045 8095666, @[email protected].
- 2 Venice airport (Marco Polo), ☎ 39 041 2606111.
- 3 Bologna airport (G.Marconi), Via Triumvirato 84, ☎ 39 051 6479615.
By car
It is bordered by the former state road 434 Transpolesana that connects Verona to Rovigo.
It is crossed by the former state road 10 Lower PadanaTurin - Monselice which also runs through the cities of Asti, Alexandria, Tortona, Piacenza, Cremona, Mantua.
It is bordered by the former state road 434 Transpolesana that connects 
It is crossed by the former state road 10 Lower PadanaOn the train
- 4 Railway station, Station square. It has its own railway station on the Verona-Legnago-Rovigo and Mantova-Monselice lines; both lines are classified regional and they are about hourly.
By bus
There are also countless extra-urban lines that connect Legnago to all the towns of the lower Veronese area (thanks also to the presence of numerous secondary school centers). The most used line is the Cerea – Bovolone – Verona as it guarantees connections with the city of Verona also every 15/30 minutes during peak hours as well as a direct Legnago - Verona line which ensures greater connection speed since the journey is carried out in Transpolesana.
| Line | Path |
|---|---|
| 136 | Verona - Caldiero - S. Bonifacio - Lonigo - Cologna Veneta - Montagnana - Legnago |
| 138 | Verona - S.Giovanni L. - Zevio - Albaredo - Bonavigo - Minerbe - Legnago |
| 141-142 | Verona - Oppeano - Roverchiara - (Angiari - Legnago - Terrazzo - Castelbaldo) - (Bonavigo - Minerbe - Legnago) |
| 144 | Verona - Well - Bovolone - Cerea - Legnago - Villa Bartolomea - Badia Polesine |
| 145 | Verona - Buttapietra - Della Scala Island - Sanguinetto - Casaleone - Cherubine - Legnago |
| 152 | Nogara - Gazzo Veronese - Casaleone - Cherubine - Legnago |
- Public transport also connects Legnago with the main towns on the west-east direction towards Mantua is Padua and on the north-south route with Rovigo is Ferrara.
How to get around
By public transport
- The city is connected with the hamlets of Canove, Porto, San Pietro, San Vito, Terranegra, Torretta, Vangadizza and Vigo thanks to two urban lines of the local transport company that guarantee the transport of passengers on an hourly basis.
| Line | Path |
|---|---|
| B. | ZAI - S.Pietro - Railway Station - Bus Station - Hospital - Port |
What see
- 1 Cathedral of San Martino Vescovo, Liberty Square. It is an unfinished work dating back to the neoclassical era and dedicated to San Martino Vescovo, protector of the city. It was rebuilt in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and inaugurated in 1814 on a project by don Francesco Ziggiotti. The church has a very simple gabled façade on the outside, with exposed bricks, while inside you can find many artistic works including the Altarpiece of San Martino located in the apse, oil on canvas by Antonio Maria Perlotto Pomè commemorating the escaped flood of the Adige in 1839. It represents the protector of the city when from paradise it sends an angel with an olive branch with the task of appeasing the wrath of the river. At the foot of the patron saint you can see a nineteenth-century representation of Legnago.
- On the altar of the Addolorata it is possible to admire one Pity dating back to the fifteenth century belonging to the Austro-Bohemian school. There are also five nineteenth-century statues made by Innocenzo Fraccaroli, an esteemed Veronese sculptor. Along the sides of the internal nave there is an apsidal chapel and three minor chapels; the nave ends with a raised presbytery area with a domed ceiling.
- Other works preserved inside the building are an oil on canvas dating back to the sixteenth century by an unknown author of the Veronese school which represents the Enthroned Madonna with Child between Saints John and Andrew and the Supper at Emmaus made by Adeodato Malatesta. The baptismal font dates back to the fifteenth century.
- In the presbyteral area, on the right and on the left, at the top, there are the two eighteenth-century organs. The cathedral also had another smaller organ, now located in the Church of S. Celestino di Nichesola, in the municipality of Terrazzo.
- San Rocco bell tower. The seventeenth-century bell tower of San Rocco has a baroque lantern and altar and is surrounded by buildings from the same period, but renovated. It is the only remaining testimony of the church of the Disciplina, demolished in 1899 to allow the construction of the adjacent road. At the base of the bell tower it is possible to pray at a small altar dedicated to San Rocco, built to commemorate the plague of 1630. Other furnishings of the former church of the Disciplina are now preserved in the church of the Assumption.
- 2 Church of the Assumption, Course of Victory. It dates back to 1900 and was commissioned by the then local parish priest Don Giuseppe Trecca. The church is located within a lot donated by the municipality as "compensation" for the demolition of the existing church of the Discipline; here are preserved works such as the Pala della Our Lady of the Assumption, previously placed in the church that was destroyed. This work dates back to the 15th century and is attributed to the Dominican Ranuccio Arvari. The architectural style can be defined as neo-Gothic due to the presence of a gabled façade, ogival windows and a rose window. Closed for worship for a long time, the church was only reopened in 1991.
- Church of San Salvaro (in the hamlet of San Pietro). The Romanesque church in the hamlet of San Pietro is one of the oldest structures in the Verona area. Tradition has it that it was built by Matilde di Canossa in the early years of the millennium. The building would have been erected near a Roman road over a pre-existing church dating back to the 6th century AD: this can be deduced from the fact that the crypt contains numerous remains dating back to the Early Middle Ages.
- The complex has undergone a twentieth-century renovation which, however, has altered the original position of some architectural elements including the bell tower. The facade is salient, has a central mullioned window and a lunette portal, while some hanging arches are visible along the slopes of the roof. The building inside has three naves: the lateral ones are narrow and divide the central nave thanks to five squat quadrangular pillars that support six alternating round arches of tuff and bricks. The altar faces east. A beautiful red marble staircase connects the flat part with the presbyter, at the end of which, in the apse, there is the only altar on which the statue of the risen Savior stands; two stairways then connect the side aisles with the crypt with three apses. Bello is the compendium of the epic of the Redemption, represented by the frescoes and statues.
- The paintings in the apse basin (in particular the Transfiguration of Christ) are by Daniele dal Pozzo from Verona. Inside the structure you can also admire fifteen medallions with effigies of saints, eight bas-reliefs representing some Austrian coats of arms from the now disappeared walls of Legnago: many, in fact, are the fragments from the former walls. The most easily readable painting on the wall is the Madonna with Child located on the face of a pillar to the right of the presbytery. The most venerated and perhaps also the oldest image, although retouched several times during the twentieth century (the original was made in the fourteenth century), is the Virgin called the Madonna of San Salvaro, painted on a vault of the crypt. It used to be invoked by the local population on the occasion of epidemics or natural disasters. In the same Roman fragments were used, all the worked stones that support the pillars, the two beautiful Corinthian capitals of travertine and the frieze that rests on the name of Julius and Emilio son of Paul who had raised the temple or to whom the sepulchral arch, and most of all the lion and the horse chasing each other on the facade.
- Sanctuary of the Madonna della Salute (in the hamlet of Porto). It was built by the Dominicans during the Middle Ages and later rebuilt around the 18th century. The bombings of the world wars destroyed the original sanctuary, but spared the bell tower, which is still visible today even if isolated from the new construction.
- The new building was designed in 1946 by the architect Giovanni Fregno, who wanted to give it a salient facade and a longitudinal plan. A crypt was also added, inside which all religious services took place until the inauguration in 1955. The church houses some works previously preserved in the destroyed church, including a Madonna and Child attributed to Ranuccio Arvari. The ancient wooden statue of the Madonna of Health it was placed in the chapel to the right of the sanctuary.
- Tower, Liberty Square. A few steps from the Duomo, the Torrione, the only remaining example of the walls that surrounded the city, makes a fine show of itself. It is also considered the symbol of Legnago precisely because it traces the indigenous architectural and military history. In ancient times it was used as a prison: some patriots were imprisoned here, including Count Emilei of Verona and the poet Aleardo Aleardi.
- The city walls (and therefore also the Torrione) were built starting from 1525 during the rule of the Serenissima, following the disastrous war of the League of Cambrai. The construction of the bastion walls only ended in 1559 and over the years saw the succession of illustrious architects such as Bartolomeo d'Alviano, Fra 'Giocondo, Michele Leoni and Michele Sanmicheli. The Venetian work was later modernized by the French first and then by the Austrians when Legnago was part of the so-called Quadrilatero. The walls will lose their defensive role after the annexation to the Kingdom of Italy and will be demolished in 1887 as regards the right side of the Adige and during the 1920s on the left side of the river to give way to the expansion of Legnago and Port.
- The keep has been restored several times over the years, undergoing heavy changes compared to its original architecture, causing numerous criticisms even during the last restoration for the addition of an upper part that did not originally exist. Other fragments of the walls are now visible in the courtyard of the Canossian institute in via Leopardi and near the former Austrian military hospital now transformed into the Environmental and Archaeological Center.
- Lions of Venice. Five stone lions by Michele Sanmicheli can easily be found in Legnago and Porto. They are represented according to the classic iconography of the Serenissima: under the claws they hold the Gospel of St. Mark open and it is possible to read the words "Pax tibi Marce evangelista meus"; the front legs rest on the earth while the rear ones on the sea to underline therefore that Venice was a power both of land and sea.
- Scodellari Palace. Also known as "Palazzo De 'Provveditori e Capitani" since during the fifteenth century it was the seat of the Provveditorati and the Captains of Venice. The building dates back to the 15th century and there is a mullioned window on the facade.
- 3 Salieri Theater. Its construction, which began in 1911, was interrupted by the First World War and was resumed in great haste in 1925 in order to celebrate the 1st centenary of the death of Antonio Salieri, a well-known musician from Legnago to whom the theater was dedicated. Some economic difficulties that hit the owner "Società anonima theatrical" forced her to sell the structure to the Municipality, which used it as a cinema.
- The interior of the theater and its facade were designed in 1941 by the architect Luigi Piccinato, but this project was not completed and the theater was only completed after the Second World War. The Salieri theater was inaugurated on September 15, 1956 and for over thirty years it hosted theatrical performances, as well as being used as a cinema hall. The building was closed in 1989 in order to allow the realization of some renovation and extraordinary maintenance works in order to adapt it to the law; a conservative restoration was carried out recovering all the pre-existing elements. The theater was again inaugurated in the form we see today on February 13, 1999.
Events and parties
What to do
Shopping
How to have fun
Where to eat
Where stay
Safety
Pharmacies
- Arfiero, Via Pellini, 25 (Vangadizza locality), ☎ 39 0442 20275.
- Bocchi, Via Minghetti, 9, ☎ 39 0442 20358.
- Coppiardi, Via Padana Inferiore Ovest, 17 (San Pietro locality), ☎ 39 0442-20715.
- Madonna Della Salute, Via Morgagni, 12, ☎ 39 0442 600212.
- Mazzon Chiavegato, Via Casette, 16, ☎ 39 0442 601400.
- Young bulls, Avenue of the Fallen, 69, ☎ 39 0442 20584.
- Zanoni, Via Giuseppe Mazzini, 2 (Porto locality), ☎ 39 0442 20525.
How to keep in touch
Post office
- 5 Italian post, Piazzetta Cinque Martiri, ☎ 39 0442 631949, fax: 39 0442 28512.
- 6 Italian post, Via Pio X 10 (in Porto), ☎ 39 0442 20942, fax: 39 0442 24406.
Around
- Montagnana - Walled city, it preserves intact the quadrilateral of walls and the crenellated towers. It has an evocative historic center that has earned it its entry into the ranks of the most beautiful villages in Italy.
- Este - Cradle of the Este family, it preserves the Carraresi castle with its fortifications. It maintains a noble aspect given to it by the seventeenth-eighteenth-century palaces that the Venetian nobility built there.
- Monselice - The fortified core of the castle and the path of the Sanctuary of the seven churches dominate the city from the hill that flanks it. The historic center and the Old Cathedral are interesting.
- Nogara
- Castel d'Ario
- Badia Polesine - It is the center of reference of the Polesine western, developed around the ancient abbey of Vangadizza, of which some remains remain; it preserves beautiful buildings that ennoble the center.
- Fratta Polesine
Itineraries
- Walled cities of Veneto. An itinerary to discover the strongholds and the history of Veneto.
- Rice road - The itinerary - to be carried out in particular from May to September - runs through the Mantua area dedicated to the cultivation of rice, between rivers and canals.
