Discover Sona: Culture, Hills and Trails
Accommodation in Sona
Sona offers a range of ways to enjoy a stay: trails through the moraine landscape, churches and historic buildings, and museums covering nature and culture. The landscape is shaped by vineyards, olive groves and cherry trees. These varied highlights make it easy to tailor your visit to the details that interest you most.
Trails and landscape
The “Cammina San Giorgio” project comprises seven routes suitable for walkers and cyclists. The brochure describes trails of varying lengths and difficulty levels. The terrain includes steep climbs as well as quiet unpaved stretches, which often lead to panoramic views. When planning, it is therefore worth considering not just the distance but also the difficulty level and character of the route. Check the route details locally before setting out; trail conditions can vary by season.
One distinctive landscape feature is the Tunnel dell’Amore: it runs between two branches of the Tione River through wooded slopes and has a pleasant microclimate. The moraine hills also shape the area’s scenery. The Colle d’Oro sul Lago farm in Palazzolo di Sona includes an olive grove, a small vineyard, a kiwi garden and a rose garden.
Churches and architectural history
Sona’s buildings reflect different periods and styles. The Torre Scaligera dates back to the 14th century, stands on a hill 200 metres high and is 17 metres tall. It once served as a lookout post. The Pieve di Santa Giustina is dated to around the year 1000. Its Romanesque architecture uses masonry stones made from moraine material, arranged in a herringbone pattern.
At the church of San Giorgio Martire, the tower and façade art are two notable features: the bell tower was built in 1788 to a design by the architect Trezza and houses a peal of thirteen bells. The façade fresco, completed by Orazio Celeghin in 1933, depicts Saint George on horseback killing a dragon with his lance. The parish church of San Giacomo e Santa Giustina contains paintings dating from the 17th to the 19th century, as well as a movable polychrome wooden crucifix from the early 16th century, both part of its traditional furnishings.
The churches of San Quirico e Giulitta and San Rocco also tell stories of local history. San Quirico e Giulitta dates back to the 15th century; during the plague of 1630, the Dominicans used the church as a hospital. Its fresco of the Crucifixion is attributed to the school of Liberale da Verona. According to tradition, San Rocco was built in 1511 in gratitude for surviving the plague. The locals are said to have used salvaged moraine pebbles when clearing the fields. A glacial erratic lies beside the church, having been carried there during the last Ice Age. San Rocco stands in LocalitĂ Fornelli, on a meadow beneath centuries-old trees. The Bagolar, also known as the Pirlar, is there too: a Celtis australis described as a national botanical monument of the area. It has a circumference of 2.85 metres and a height of 19 metres; these measurements may change slightly.
Museums and rural heritage
The Museo Paleontologico e dell’Origine del Territorio “Attilio Fedrigo” displays several hundred fossils from Italy and abroad. It offers an overview of the evolution of life, from the oldest geological eras—including the Palaeozoic, more than 500 million years ago—to a period a few thousand years ago. The Museo Storico Baita Monte Baldo focuses on different topics: it is organised into sections on rural life and wartime, and includes a mushroom exhibition as well as a permanent photography exhibition. Geological time periods and everyday and wartime history are thus presented as distinct themes.
Historic villas and rural farmsteads are also part of the architectural heritage. Villa Trevisani Calderara was built in the 19th century and is set in a park with hundred-year-old trees. La Guglia is a round tower built around the same time as the villa, associated with views over the surrounding area. Villa Belvedere stands on a hill; from there, the 360-degree view stretches from Lake Garda to the Berici Hills and the Lessinian Mountains. Villa Koelliker, also known as Giarola Previtali and Villa Eire, was built by Giuseppe Previtali in 1892 as a summer house in LocalitĂ Giarola, near an old chapel dating from 1703.
Colombaron is a 16th-century rural farmstead on Sona’s eastern slopes. It takes its name from the large dovecote tower. The hills of San Giorgio are dotted with rural farmsteads among the cultivated fields; many had dovecote or watchtowers alongside their residential and farm buildings. Villa Spolverini Schizzi Fiorini Recchi preserves the only surviving Brolo of the many that once existed in the municipality.
Discover more destinations: Lavagno, Ceraino, Cazzano di Tramigna, Vigasio, Parona Di Valpolicella, Legnago, Quinto Di Valpantena, ColĂ .
For the overview of the wider area: Verona.
