Preara-Moraro-Levà Nord: Culture and Nature

If you are looking for a hotel in Preara-Moraro-Levà Nord, its historical and natural attractions can shape the focus of your travel plans. These include a Romanesque chapel with a later fresco cycle, the architectural history of La Bastia, a British military cemetery, and the Sentiero dei Nievo, with its stream, woodland and seasonal blooms. This allows you to consider cultural history and observing nature as different focuses for your trip.

Church art and medieval history

The Chiesetta di San Pietro in Castelvecchio was built in the 12th century in the Romanesque-Ravennate style. A continuous fresco frieze dating from the early 16th century runs along the upper interior of its perimeter walls; it depicts the twelve apostles. The construction and decoration dates are distinctly separate: the chapel dates from the 12th century, and the paintings from the early 16th century. This sequence brings the building’s different historical layers into focus and establishes a specific chronological connection between its architecture and pictorial program.

The chapel stands on a hill where a bishop’s castle was built. The castle was destroyed in 1313 during an incursion by the Paduans. The chapel and the castle’s history thus point to different historical layers of the same hill. For a cultural trip, this creates a specific connection between church architecture, painting and medieval history.

Architectural history in La Bastia and Preara

The name La Bastia recalls an old castle built by the Scaligeri on the hilltop. La Bastia itself is a complex of buildings on a very steep slope. A castle associated with La Bastia was captured and set on fire on the night of July 2, 1386, by troops under Arcoano Buzzaccarini. Buzzaccarini was the podestà of Bassano, serving the Carraresi. Shortly afterward, Antonio della Scala had the castle demolished down to its foundations. The sequence of capture, fire and subsequent demolition brings La Bastia’s medieval history into focus.

The villas also offer an opportunity to compare different architectural details. The south-facing neoclassical façade of the villa in La Bastia was built by Stefano Nievo in the early 17th century. Five Doric intercolumniations divide it. Villa Tretti in Preara is a 17th-century building; its portico consists of arches in a shallow segmental-arch form. At the villa in La Bastia, the emphasis is on the articulated south façade; at Villa Tretti, it is on the portico and the shape of its arches.

A place of remembrance and nature along the Sentiero dei Nievo

The British military cemetery in Preara contains the graves of 438 British military personnel and one Indian civilian. It took its present form after the end of the First World War. People from all over the world visit the cemetery regularly to remember the places where their distant relatives died. If you plan to visit the cemetery, check the current visitor information in advance.

The Sentiero dei Nievo runs through the woodland alongside the Erbizo stream. Farther upstream, the stream is fed by a spring that flows year-round. Primroses bloom in the valley along the trail from the end of January; in spring, the banks are covered with the blooms of the wood anemone. The valley is also rich in wild plants and is home to various bird species, including magpies and green woodpeckers. The flowering seasons bring different seasonal highlights: primroses mark the landscape from the end of January, followed by wood anemones in spring. The stream, woodland, plants and birds offer other specific subjects for observing nature.

Local names and cuisine

The “priara de Saccardo” gave the hamlet of Preara its name. A local culinary specialty is “Quaja al speo e poènta onta”: this traditional local dish consists of spit-roasted quail served with fried polenta. Both examples add local names and cuisine to the architectural and natural themes, without requiring you to have a particular type of trip in mind.

Discover more destinations: Valle, Vulcano, Radi, Villaganzerla, Romano D'ezzelino, Villaga, Lonigo, Bolzano Vicentino

For the broader travel overview: Vicenza.