Conche: Lagoon Landscape, Casoni and Church History

Conche combines the lagoon landscape of the Valle Millecampi with a long history of parish life and architecture. If you are looking for a hotel for your trip, you can start by considering whether walks, traditional building styles or historic sites will shape your stay most. Each theme offers a different starting point: an extensive wetland, the Casoni and specific dates in the parish’s history.

Explore the Valle Millecampi on foot

The Valle Millecampi covers 1,608 hectares and is both a wetland and a lagoon landscape. It is included in the serial UNESCO World Heritage Site “Venice and its Lagoon.” Walks in the Valle Millecampi take you past winding freshwater canals, brackish-water areas and extensive salt marshes; the salt marshes are regularly flooded during high tides. The walks therefore focus on different types of water and shoreline, not just the lagoon landscape as a whole.

Casoni and architectural history

The Casoni della Fogolana have square or rectangular floor plans, walls made of sun-dried bricks and steeply pitched, reed-thatched roofs with four slopes. These features can be understood as three aspects of their architecture: floor plan, wall material and roof design. In the Fogolana area of the municipality of Codevigo, four Casoni stand as replicas of typical dwellings of the valley, alongside a green space.

The Casone delle Sacche served as a film location for “La moglie del prete,” starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. Several routes lead to the Casone delle Sacche by car, bicycle or on foot. This Casone therefore offers both a specific film connection and several ways to get there as practical starting points for your plans.

Church history and local connections

The document dated 15 March 1107 is considered the founding charter of the parish of Conche. The former church in Conche was rebuilt in 1645 on the left bank of the Brenta, under the title Santa Maria della Neve. A new three-aisled parish church in the Romanesque style was consecrated on 28 November 1953. These dates mark different milestones: the founding charter, the rebuilding of the former church and the consecration of a new parish church.

The parish of “Conche S. Maria della Neve,” also known as “S. Mariae ad Nives de Conchis,” is located at Via Vallona 73, 35020 Codevigo PD, in the village of Conche.

Getting there and spring cuisine

From Padua, follow State Road 516 Padua–Chioggia through Legnaro, Piove di Sacco and Codevigo to kilometre 99. There, turn left onto the road to the village of Fogolana di Conche. The sequence of place names and the kilometre marker provide specific reference points along this route.

In spring, trying the Asparago di Conche is recommended. If you are choosing when to travel, this seasonal culinary connection complements the area’s natural and cultural attractions.

Choose hotels based on your travel interests

A spring stay also offers a seasonal culinary connection: the Asparago di Conche.

Discover more destinations: Cittadella, Mestrino, Trebaseleghe, Cornoleda, Conselve, Granze, Galzignano Terme, Ghetto

For the wider travel overview: Padua.